


Torture and Tea

by jolikawaiiciel (LottieHolmes)



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Boys' Love, Kidnapping, M/M, Romance, Seduction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-11
Updated: 2013-08-26
Packaged: 2017-12-23 03:52:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 35,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/921669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LottieHolmes/pseuds/jolikawaiiciel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Present Day AU. Sebastian is a BL novelist and Ciel is a new intern at Funtom Publishing. When their paths cross, sparks fly between them: Ciel wants revenge and Sebastian wants more of Ciel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cats and Costumes

**Author's Note:**

> The seme refers to the person that is on top in a yaoi relationship and the uke is the one on the bottom.
> 
> Please tell me what you think as this is my first time writing something like this.

**Chapter 1:**

It was only Ciel Phantomhive's third day at Funtom Publishing and he already wanted to quit his new low level job as an intern. So far all he had done was make countless cups of tea and mugs of instant coffee and wash up the aforementioned crockery. He hadn't even come anywhere close to see anything resembling publishing which was supposed to be the purpose of his internship.

Ciel hit his head on his desk which was situated in between one flamboyantly gay red head named Grell Sutcliffe who was a little gender confused and a deceptively young looking blonde man named Finnian that broke everything that he touched- Ciel had already been sent out three times to purchase replacement staplers and hole punches.

"I can't spend the rest of my life doing this," Ciel groaned. "I'm only 19..."

A brisk shout of "Phantomhive!" jolted him out of his self pity.

"I'll go put the kettle on," he said murmured automatically and looked up to see his supervisor Bardroy glaring down at him . "Do you want tea or coffee? I think we are nearly out of teabags, so it will have to be coffee."

"I don't care about that," Bardroy waved his hand dismissively. "I've got a job for you."

The overworked intern sat up a little straighter in his seat. Was he actually going to get to do something that was actually constructive or was he just being asked to get Bardroy another pack of cigarettes? He glanced out of the office window to gauge the weather, it was not enjoyable to be sent out to purchase items in the crippling cold rain.

"I need you to pick up a draft from an author. It's due in today and he hasn't sent it in yet so I want you to go to his flat and pick it up for me."

Grabbing a post it note off the stack on Ciel's desk, he scrawled down an address and passed it to his new intern who was now looking brighter than he had been all morning. This was always the case with the new interns- they perked up at the prospect of actually doing something that didn't involve making drinks or acting as the staff's slaves, but they always returned from Sebastian Michaelis' flat looking like they had been sentenced to a life sentence in Dartmoor Prison and then a few days later they normally left Funtom Publishing, swearing never to do an internship again.

Ciel slipped his coat on, pocketed the note with the address and left the office after waving good bye to his supervisor.

"You're so mean," Grell Sutcliffe purred as he filed his nails. "It's only his third day and you're sending him off on the mandatory test of courage."

"I thought I might try it earlier on this time so he has more energy, he might fare better than all of his predecessors. Besides, he is a special case. Michaelis will have to learn to be careful around him..."

"I still bet £10 that the scrawny brat will come out looking like the rest," Grell said confidently and handed Bardroy the appropriate note. "Finnian?"

"I bet £3 that he will be the same as the others," the blonde clinked around in his pocket to fish out some coins. "I'm low on money this month so that's all I can bet."

"Ah, you bet in favour of the previous intern," Grell said understandingly. "Never bet in the favour of the intern- you will always lose money."

Bardroy slipped the money into his pocket. "You never know, Phantomhive might be the exception to the rule."

As Ciel alighted off the bus, the already grey sky darkened and it began to rain heavily. After using several expletives to describe his mood, he pulled up his hood and sheltered temporarily in a shop doorway as his coat was woollen and absorbed rain water like a sponge.

"Why me? Damn you Dad for forcing me to do this internship," he muttered darkly under his breath as he waited for the rainfall to ease.

Ciel Phantomhive had been tutored at him and had never set foot inside a school in his life. His family were the Phantomhive Earldom and none of them had ever gone to a school, public or private. That said, he had gone to a normal college as his mother had wanted him to actually make some real friends, he had only made one due to his crippling shyness.

He had been debating between Oxford or Cambridge when his father had suggested, or rather, commanded him to do an internship at Funtom Publishing in order to get Ciel acquainted with the family business before he went to university which was why he was stuck in his current degrading situation.

He wondered if his father actually knew that the word "intern" was a synonym for "tea slave" or if his father had just wanted him to do some hard work for once. Fortunately the people in the office that he had been assigned to did not know that he was the son of the CEO otherwise they would have sucked up to him for a pay rise or promotion and he definitely hadn't seen any sign of that so far.

After a few more minutes of contemplation, Ciel stuck his hand out into the rain to check if the rainfall had eased or not. A few spits of rain tapped down on his hand, indicating that it had subsided to a light drizzle. He could bear a light drizzle.

Pulling his hood down, he stepped out of his temporary shelter and walked down the street. if his sense of direction was correct Sebastian Michaelis' flat was only a few minutes away from the bus stop.

15 minutes later he finally arrived at a modestly well kept block of flats that matched the address that Bardroy had given him. He squinted at the names that were next to the bells. Outside he had counted 5 floors, yet there were only 3 names which indicated that the author Sebastian Michaelis owned the top 2 floors.

He raised an eyebrow and pushed the appropriate bell. There was a burst of static and a voice answered.

"I suppose that you are from my publishers. You can come right up."

"You must be the latest intern," Sebastian Michaelis said after he let Ciel into his flat. The author turned out to be a tall man in his late twenties who was dressed in black trousers and a perfectly ironed blouse with no creases. "They really go through their interns at that place..."

"They sent me to collect your draft; it's due in today," Ciel answered.

Sebastian ran a hand through his long raven black hair and Ciel observed that the author had heavy black bags underneath his scarlet red eyes which were highlighted by his pale white skin.

"I'm nearly finished, so if you don't mind waiting for me to hand over the draft," he said and yawned which gave Ciel the hint that he had been up all night writing. "You can wait for me in the library."

He led the boy into the appropriate room and returned to his manuscript. The game would begin later.

In the library Ciel wandered around the bookshelves which were impeccably arranged by genre and all the books were in alphabetical order. There wasn't even a layer of dust anywhere. Ciel decided that it was nearly as good as the library back at the Phantomhive manor that had been added to by every generation of Phantomhives- the only thing this one was lacking was Sherlock Holmes.

The title BL caught on one of the bookshelves caught his attention as he had never heard the term before. He was about to pick a random book of the shelf when Sebastian Michaelis shouted for him.

"I've got a few pages left, then I'm finished. In the meantime, could you please make me some tea. The kitchen is just down the hall. "

The author definitely believed that an intern was a tea slave. Ciel suppressed a groan and walked off to find the kitchen.

Boiling the kettle was easy enough, bust when he opened a cupboard in search of some teabags he found that the author seemed to have a stockpile of every type of tea available ranging from Earl Grey to Darjeeling to English Breakfast to Chamomile. On closer inspection he realised that they were all loose tea meaning that it wasn't just a case of boiling water, sticking a teabag in and adding milk.

He cursed out loud. He had spent most of his life having his tea made for him by his butler, Tanaka so he had no idea how to prepare loose tea. He had only just mastered using teabags.

Frantically he dug through the cupboard and eventually found a box labelled 'Inept Interns'. Inside was a bunch of teabags. Ciel sighed in relief.

Sebastian was writing at a fast pace as Ciel entered the room and set the cup down next to him.

"Thank you," the author replied and took a sip. "I see you went for the teabag option."

"Sorry."

"Well, you managed to select my favourite cup."

The teacup in question was printed with photos of cats. It had been easy for Ciel to guess that it was the author's preferred choice as it was incongruous with all the others which were delicately painted with flowers.

Ciel peered over the author's shoulder to take a look at his manuscript.

"You have very neat writing," he observed.

Sebastian jumped and dropped the teacup, spilling tea over the handwritten manuscript, the ink began to run and Ciel's heart plummeted. He had ruined the manuscript. He was going to be in trouble with Sebastian Michaelis, Bardroy and his father.

The author stared up at him with a poker face that gave no hint of his current mood.

"I'm sorry!" Ciel blurted out as the ink continued to run into the tea. "Is there anything that I can do to help?"

A hint of a smile grew on the man's face and his eyes flashed a glowing red for a second. Then he stood up.

"Yes, there is something."

He grabbed Ciel's hand and dragged him down the hallway and into a walk in wardrobe. Ciel gulped nervously, having no idea of what the author was going to make him do. The author let go of his hand and rummaged through hangers. He pulled out something on a hanger and threw it to Ciel who caught it on reflex.

"The accessories are in the second drawer down of the chest of drawers over there," he pointed. "When you have finished changing, come back to my study. Take as long as you like... it depends how much trouble you want to be in with Funtom Publishing."

The raven haired man strode out of the  room purposefully.

When he saw what he was supposed to be changing into, Ciel flushed bright red. He briefly considered walking out now and telling his father about what went on as his publishing company and the sadistic personalities of the authors that worked for him, but that simply wasn't how a Phantomhive worked, snitching was not condoned in the family. If he went off to his father for help every time something happened, how was he expected to succeed his father's title?

No, for now he was going to have to grit his teeth, put on the furry cat costume and bear it until a clear plan formulated inside his head.

The accessories turned out to be a set of matching cat ears on a headband and a collar with a metal bell on. Ciel dumped the collar back in the drawer. A cat costume and ears were enough humiliation for the moment. Trying to muster as much dignity as possible, he picked up his new tail so he wouldn't trip on it and entered Sebastian Michaelis' study.

The first thing the author did was flush a bright pink and smile happily which was a contrast to the brusque manner that he had displayed so far.

"I knew it would suit you! You look so..." his voice trailed off and he became more businesslike. "You ruined the last 100 pages of my novel, but I should be able to write enough to replace it as it was nothing but smut. I just need some inspiration."

"Inspiration?" Ciel questioned cautiously as the author's eyes were still fixed on his cat ears. Alarm bells were already ringing in his head and he still didn't know what the author wanted with him.

"Yes, you see, I write BL," Sebastian began and noticed the confused look on Ciel's face. "I see that you don't know what BL is. It stands for Boy's Love."

It finally dawned on Ciel. "You write gay romance stories and you want me to inspire you to write smut. No fucking way!"

Sebastian caught Ciel's chin and pulled the boy's face closer to his. His manner had changed again. Now he seemed more sadistic and scary.

"So, you're going to run away now and return to Funtom Publishing empty handed, or rather with no manuscript and a complaint from me- one of their bestselling authors, about how you ruined my latest work. You will be fired and the CEO will make sure that no one will ever employ you again."

Sebastian moved his face even closer to Ciel who was trying to maintain an unruffled demeanour as if being forced to dress up as a cat was normal, but his legs already felt like jelly and he wasn't sure how long he was going to be able to stand up for.

"It suit you well," Sebastian commented. "Let's begin.

He pulled Ciel in by the waist so that their bodies were touching. Ciel suppressed a terrified squeak. Ever since his childhood he had had a fear of people touching him as he had been nearly kidnapped by someone that he had trusted. Sebastian stared down at him and smirked before bending his head and nipping at Ciel's ear.

"W-What on earth are you doing?" he yelped in fright.

"I'm getting into character," the author said calmly as if nothing had happened.

"Character?" Ciel screeched as his ear was bitten again.

"Yes. This time the seme is a bit of a sadist and the uke is very shy, that's why I knew you would be perfect for this. Besides the smut scenes that you poured tea over were not in character..."

Ciel glared up at the man and began to wonder again about quitting his internship. He was sure that his father would understand if he explained everything.

Sebastian used his momentary distraction to capture his lips. Ciel was too shocked to fight back for the moment, but when he felt Sebastian's tongue slip in he bit down on it. The author jumped back and released him.

"You're very feisty for someone who seemed so shy," he commented as a trickle of blood dripped out of his mouth.

"I don't care about whatever you are going on about, just don't touch me again!" Ciel shouted with blazing eyes. "I'm straight, so could you please stop coming on to me."

The author's eyes widened. His new intern was resistant to his charms unlike his predecessors who seemed to melt like ice when he stared at them. None of them had ever glared at him and pushed him away. He let out a short laugh.

"You win. You can go and change whilst I finish the manuscript."

Ciel gave him a puzzled look before leaving the room to change back into his normal clothes.

Once he was alone, Sebastian smirked to himself. Finally, he had a challenge to work on: seducing the young intern onto his side and sexuality. When he had finished, the intern would be like putty in his hands.

 


	2. Tea and Trifles

**Chapter 2:**

The office workers at Funtom Publishing looked up expectantly as Ciel Phantomhive stalked angrily into the office, ten minutes before the end of work which was at half past 5. He had left the office in the morning, over 6 hours ago. There was nothing unusual about that; the interns normally stayed at Sebastian Michaelis' flat for most of the day.

The harassed intern strode up to Bardroy and handed him the manuscript.

"I've done what you asked me to. Can I go home now?"

After a moment of silence, Bardroy nodded slowly and Ciel walked out without glancing back.

Grell and Finny exchanged startled looks.

"The brat can still walk and he doesn't look exhausted," Grell commented in surprise. "Did Sebas-chan keep his hands off him? That is a first."

"I don't think so," Mey-Rin, a red haired woman with thick circular lens glasses, answered from the other side of the office. "He wouldn't look that annoyed if something hadn't happened.

"In any case, he came back looking different to the others, meaning I get to keep all of the betting money," Bardroy said with a grin.

Gell shot him a suspicious look. "You know something that we don't about the brat. Or is it that you thought that Sebas-chan wouldn't lay a hand on him because he looks too innocently childlike?"

Bardroy did not rise to the bait and began flipping through the manuscript, checking first for grammatical and spelling errors and then actually reading the content. He squinted closer when he noticed that the descriptions of the uke changed from being a tall gangly blonde teenager to a short and skinny boy with "baby soft lips" and hair "the colour of slate mixed with the sky". He groaned at the inconsistency, then realised that it meant that author had interest in Ciel Phantomhive as the description, albeit flowery, matched the intern perfectly. The editor wondered if the inconsistencies were deliberate mistakes so he would have to send Ciel back with the manuscript or whether the author had been too intent on his own fantasies to notice. Either way it connoted that Ciel had caught his interest as this had never happened before.

It was also disturbing and he knew he couldn't let this go much further. After all he had a duty to the boy's father.

Around him the other occupants of the office packed up their work, put on their coats before leaving work for the day, but he barely noticed as he closely read the manuscript for anything that would set alarm bells ringing.

He was so intent on his work that he didn't notice that subject of his thoughts standing in front of his desk until the boy cleared his throat.

"Bardroy, can I ask you a question- it is the obvious one," Ciel said and nervously straightened his coat as he wasn't sure if the man would actually answer. Something about the looks that he had been given when he had arrived back had given him the hint that everyone had known what had been going to occur when he went to Sebastian Michaelis' flat.

Bardroy sighed heavily. "I'll tell you, you deserve to know. I'll treat you to some cake too whilst I'm at it."

The pair adjourned their conversation to a restaurant that was around the corner of the street that the office was situated on. Bardroy ordered ham, egg and chips for himself whilst Ciel chose a selection of cakes.

"So, what exactly do you want to know about Sebastian Michaelis?" Bardroy asked as he dipped a chip into the fried egg.

"Is he really a bestselling author? I've never heard of him before and I thought I was well read," Ciel decided to start the interrogation off on a light note before he got to the heavier morality questions.

Bardroy was grateful for the evasive question. "He is, he writes under a pseudonym and you wouldn't have heard of him as BL is actually aimed at females."

Ciel took a bite of his heaven and hell chocolate cake before adding another question to the mix. "Does what happened to me... happen to every intern that has ever worked at Funtom Publishing?"

That was the question that his supervisor had been waiting for. "What exactly happened? He clearly didn't do much as you're still walking and I can't see any love bites."

As Ciel described the situation that he had been in, he noticed that Bardroy's shoulders sagged in relief. Ciel raised an eyebrow.

"Were you expecting something else?"

His supervisor looked away guiltily. "Every other intern has... fallen in love with him and er, done things. You got off very luckily with a French kiss and a cat costume."

Upon hearing the author's modus operandi, Ciel spat out his latest mouthful of cake. He had suspected that the pervert had been very prepared to go all the way with him. He was now extremely glad that he had bitten the pervert's tongue. He didn't even what to speculate what could have happened to him.

Bardroy grimaced. "It's a true. They come back unable to walk in a straight line and then they quit because he is no longer interested and ignores their calls. It has happened with every single intern that had ever gone to his flat to collect a draft."

"They fall in love with him?" Ciel questioned and flicked his fringe out of his eyes so he could observe Bardroy carefully for signs of lying as what he was saying sounded so improbable.

"All of your predecessors were older than you and most were doing the internship part time as they were still in university. Their tight and gruelling schedules meant that none of them had a girlfriend and they were very susceptible to him."

"So, I'm only different because I'm not a burnt out university student?"

Ciel moved onto his second cake which was a strawberry shortcake and picked the strawberries off first with his fork.

The person paying for the cake considered the question for a moment.

"It's not just that. You... have a presence and you're very firm on your decisions. Your refusal was probably so strong that he was shocked and didn't know what to do."

Ciel couldn't recall being firm on his decisions at any time during his internship so he wondered where Bardroy had got that impression from. He looked down at his strawberry shortcake and then he knew.

"You know who I am, don't you? No one else in their right mind would buy a 19 year old cake. I suppose it makes sense as you are my supervisor."

Bardroy smiled. "I met you once at a garden party hosted by your parents when you were about 7. I asked if you if you wanted to play hide and seek since you looked very bored, but you refused steadfastly and persuaded me into a game of chess. Of course I lost the game and you made me sneak you cake secretly as your parents had banned you."

Ciel couldn't recall the memory in question, but it sounded like something he would do as he always got bored when he was forced to attend parties and his parents had banned him from eating sweets at some point in his childhood due to the risk of him getting a cavity.

"Does my father know what Sebastian Michaelis does?"

"Sebastian Michaelis is a very grey area for us. All subjects involved are willing and he gets results out of the encounter which are beneficial to Funtom Publishing. Or at least until now. You weren't willing: you could press charges."

He looked up at Ciel who was looking down intently at his cake as if he was in deep thought. Then the boy looked up, tilted his head on one side and smiled angelically as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.

"Reporting him to the Police wouldn't be enough revenge and the Phantomhives have always worked on the other side of the law," Ciel said and straightened his posture. "I'm getting revenge on him personally. Do you have any objections?"

Bardroy grimaced. He had never been fond of the volatile situation, but it had never done anyone any actual harms as all the interns were willing, Sebastian produced yet another bestselling book and there was never a shortage of people wanting to do internships at Funtom Publishing. But now it was different. Ciel had not been willing and Michaelis did seem to be enamoured with him, but he had chosen the wrong intern to mess with.

"I can't do anything directly to stop him as I'm only an editor, but I think something that should be done. I have no objections," he said thoughtfully, then he remembered what Ciel had said about Phantomhives not working on the side of the law and reconsidered. "Just don't kill him."

"Of course I'm not going to kill him," Ciel smirked which sent shivers down Bardroy's spine. "He might want to be dead though, when I'm finally through with him."

* * *

The author in question was smiling to himself as he thought about the intern whilst he was drinking tea. The softness of his pale skin... The cerulean blue of his eyes... His innocence of how the world worked…

Then he realised that he didn't have a name to match with his fantasies so he finished his cup and got out his phone out to call Bardroy.

His editor picked up after several rings. There were the sounds of people talking and a train whooshing past in the background so Sebastian guessed that Bardroy was at a tube station somewhere.

"Bard-"

His query was cut off by his editor shouting at him. "What is wrong with you? The two halves of your manuscript don't match up! Which description do you want to stick with? It had better not be the second one!"

Sebastian realised that he had been too intent on his fantasies about the intern when he had been writing and he had forgotten to use the descriptions of the uke character that he had used in the earlier part of the draft.

"I think that you should send the intern back with it," he suggested innocently, or rather sadistically. "I'll rewrite the first half so it matches the second. That will solve the problem."

A silence met his suggestion and he wondered what Bardroy was thinking. Was he having second thoughts about interns equalling BL inspiration? He pressed on anyway.

"Speaking of interns, what is the latest one called?"

"His first name is Ciel and he is only 19 years old, so could you please leave him alone. He is younger that all the other ones you seduced."

"I won't violate him, Bardroy. If you promise to send him over tomorrow, I will promise that."

There was a short silence before his chain smoking editor replied. "Agreed."

Sebastian ended the call and smirked like a satisfied cat. It had been a very useful conversation. He had obtained the knowledge that he was getting a visit tomorrow from his new favourite intern and the boy's name.

Ciel.

He wished he knew the surname that went with the name that was French for sky. Something told him that he wasn't going to get it from Bardroy as the man seemed to be quite protective over the young boy for some reason.

He tried to think of prospective surnames as he conjured up memories of the boy's face. The surname clearly wasn't a common one like "Smith" or "Jones". It had to be something rare and unusual to match his blue grey hair which was a very uncommon colour- he had only ever met one other person with a similar hair colour and that was the CEO of Funtom Publishing, Vincent Phantomhive.

Amusedly Sebastian put "Ciel" and "Phantomhive" together. It seemed like a fitting surname. Then he recalled that Vincent Phantomhive did have a son that had a close resemblance to him and that he had met the son once when he had been invited to his mansion about 10 years ago.

He tried to think back to the evening. They had been sitting down at the dinner table and then the butler had entered and discreetly informed Vincent Phantomhive that his son who was will was having trouble sleeping and wanted his father to read him a story. Sebastian had overheard and offered to help as he was feeling overwhelmed as he had only published one book and he had already become popular with people like Earl Vincent Phantomhive.

He remembered following the butler to the child's bedroom which had his name on, written in brightly coloured wooden letters. Letters that spelled out "Ciel"...

Sebastian was jolted out of the memory by the surprise. The boy he had nearly violated that morning was Ciel Phantomhive, the son of Earl Vincent Phantomhive, his publisher.

He was going to have to tread carefully.

But he was still going to get his hands on Ciel Phantomhive.


	3. Ballpoint pens and Trowels

**Chapter 3:**

As soon as he arrived back at home which was a townhouse in London that had been in his family for generations, Ciel dug out his old dartboard and darts from his childhood. After doing a little preliminary research into the author Sebastian Michaelis, he printed out a photo of him for some target practise.

One of the interesting things that he discovered was that Sebastian wrote his smutty BL novels under a pseudonym, Michael Tianseba which was just a slight rearrangement of his real name. He also discovered that the author was very popular with his female fans and that there were several fan sites devoted to him, but no one seemed to know his real name.

As he aimed his first dart at the photo he considered selling the sadist's real name and address to his fans so the author would be besieged by gushing female fans. On the negative side, that type of revenge was too low level for someone like him and he was not sure if the author would actually hate all the attention.

He threw the first dart which hit Sebastian's mouth.

There was also the option of hiring some thugs to beat him up- he knew his father had a list of some good ones in his study and he himself had sat down for dinner with the head of a Chinese crime syndicate. But again the idea was not quite right- it lacked a personal touch.

Ciel aimed and threw the second dart, hitting Sebastian's eye.

He could use his father's resources to freeze all of the pervert's credit and debit card, close all of his bank accounts and kick him out of his flat. The only drawback would be that his father would find out and it was a cliché idea in the first place. The third dart hit Sebastian's nose.

No, he had to fight back in the way that he had been hit. An idea began to swarm inside his mind like mist and take shape.

His final dart hit Sebastian's heart and he knew that this was the best method of revenge against a perverted BL writer. It was fortunate that his best and only friend happened to be in a similar business as the pervert which was the starting point of his plan.

With that idea in mind he rang for Tanaka. The elderly butler arrived a few minutes later, despite the late hour.

"Tanaka, research this man and buy out the all the other occupants at this address besides him," Ciel instructed and wrote down the appropriate name and address on a sheet of his personal notepaper.

"Yes, young master," Tanaka replied before reading the name. "Am I right in saying that this 'Sebastian Michaelis' is an author?"

The young master couldn't exactly picture his butler as being the type to read BL novels- in fact the image was rather disturbing. He guessed that it was not a personal interest but something to do with his father.

"How much do you know about him?" he questioned.

"Your mother quickly became a fan after reading first book which was not published by Funtom Publishing and got your father to persuade him to sign a contract with Funtom Publishing."

"My mum is a BL fan," Ciel groaned, shocked at the fact that his own mother was a fan and he had never even heard of the genre until this day.

"Yes. You have also met him before."

That was even more of a shock. "I've met him before? I don't remember." Ciel was sure that he would have remembered meeting a pervert like him before.

Tanaka nodded. "He helped me put you to bed once when you were ill, he even read you a story. This was about 10 years ago and you were ill so it is not surprising that you forgot it."

"Hmm..." was Ciel's only reply as he tried to think back to when he was 9. First it was Bardroy meeting him at a party and now it turned out that Sebastian Michaelis had put him to bed? He really should have paid attention to the people that he had met when he was a child.

"Do you still wish for me to carry out your instructions, young master?" Tanaka asked quietly.

Ciel waved his hand dismissively. "Yes please. Good night Tanaka."

"Good night, young master."

As the butler left the room Ciel stretched and yawned. It had been a long and tiring day. He would have to formulate his plan properly the next day when he was more awake. His phone vibrated as he was pulling on his pyjamas. He picked it up to find that Bardroy had sent him a text. It was a peculiar text to read:

 **Tomorrow, bring a pepper spray, bring your own drinks and come to work wearing 2 pairs of trousers**.

The intern raised his eyebrows and tried to infer the significance of wearing two pairs of trousers. He turned his phone off and got into bed to go to sleep. He would ask Tanaka to make him a flask of his favourite tea and he would wear his skinny jeans under the trousers that he usually wore to work.

* * *

The moment Ciel walked into the office at Funtom Publishing and saw the look on Bardroy's face he guessed that Sebastian has found an excuse to get him to enter his flat. Unfortunately for Ciel, he hadn't properly anticipated this to happen so soon.

"I'm sorry Ciel, but you need to go to Michaelis' flat and return the manuscript so he can correct all of his mistakes," Bardroy explained ruefully.

Around him Grell, Finny and Mey-Rin exchanged suspicious looks. Sebastian Michaelis making a mistake was an unprecedented occurrence. Unlike with most authors, there wasn't a constant back and forth of corrections between the editor and the author. Ciel groaned at the prospect of having to see the pervert again so quickly.

Bardroy smiled sympathetically and handed the manuscript over. "However, I think you might want to actually read his draft before you give it back. Call it training as part of your internship. It might give you some insight into how his mind works."

The intern was interested in spite of himself. He had some inkling of what a BL story would be about, but he wasn't sure that his initial impression had been right. It couldn't just be nothing but smut...? So he took off his coat and sat down at his desk to read. He noticed that Grell and Finny were straining their necks on either side of him to read the manuscript over his shoulder, but he didn't have a problem with that as they were also editors and had probably read a story of every genre under the sun. The first few chapters were fairly standard- that is if you were a regular reader of romantic novels. The relationship was between a student and a teacher, who apparently fell in love at first sight. Ciel scoffed at the improbability of such a situation, but he pressed on. When it came to the first sex scene he nearly dropped the sheets of paper in fright.

"The uke is pretty shy," Grell commented. "Considering that is his first time the seme is going to bit far."

"That's going to hurt in the morning," Finny added as well.

"What's a "seme" and an "uke"?" Ciel asked, recalling that the pervert had mentioned it the day before.

"A "seme" is the top and the "uke" is the bottom and is normally the shyer of the two and more feminine," the redhead informed him and looked closely at him. "It's obvious that you were the uke yesterday at Sebas-chan's flat."

In a flash of anger, Ciel rose to the bait that Grell has dangled in front of him and shouted," Nothing happened yesterday! Get your mind out of the gutter! I'm fucking straight!"

Grell eyed him interestedly. "Really?"

"Yes," Ciel calmed himself down slowly by taking deep breaths.

Grell and Finny looked at each other before Grell plucked the draft out of Ciel's hand. "Since you're straight I'll check it for you; I'll let you know if there is anything that you should see," Grell offered unexpectedly. "You can make everyone some tea whilst you are waiting."

Ciel was grateful for the disposal of the burden. Every time that he saw the pervert's handwriting he remembered the events of the previous day. The pervert's roving hands... His sadistic eyes... His tongue forcing its way into his mouth... Reading the sex scene had given him thoughts of what could have happened. He poured water into the kettle from the sink in the mini kitchen and rummaged around in the cupboard for some chocolate digestive biscuits and then for everyone's favourite mugs. On his first day he had chosen the mugs randomly and had been screamed at by Grell who made it a point to only drink out of fine bone china mugs. He delivered everyone's tea to their desks and placed the plate of biscuits on Grell's desk as he knew that digestives were the redhead's favourites. Ciel sat back down at his desk and turned to Grell.

"Is there anything I should see in there yet?" Grell twitched guiltily and Ciel grabbed it back. "Don't scream Phantomhive- it is a bit shocking for someone who is clearly a virgin. All you need to know is that the uke now looks and acts like you and wears cat ears to please the seme," Grell summarised and waited for the inevitable reaction.

Ciel dropped the manuscript in fright when he spotted some phrases. Never mind what he had thought about not hiring thugs. He was going to hire Lau and get him to acupuncture the pervert so it actually hurt and he would resemble a pincushion.

"Calm down, Phantomhive, you don't need to read anymore. Just take it to Sebas-chan, take a seat and do not move to respond to anything he says whilst you are there."

"Do I still have to go?" Ciel moaned. "The fact that he thought and wrote about me makes me want to throw up."

Finny dug around in his desk drawers whilst Ciel face palmed his desk. He tapped Ciel on the shoulder and passed him a trowel that was covered in mud. "You can take this for protection. You might not want to use it, but it may come in useful."

"Thank you for the offer, but Bardroy has already warned me to carry pepper spray," the blue haired intern replied and gave it back.

Mey-Rin made a disparaging noise. "Bardroy is too trusting. Here, take this."

She held out something small. Ciel got up and walked over to her desk to see what it was. The woman was holding a plain plastic ball point pen. Ciel accepted it doubtfully. What was a pen going to do against Sebastian?

"Er- thank you for the pen."

Mey-Rin looked at him as if he was missing the obvious. "Ball point pen ink doesn't run when it gets wet. When Sebastian isn't looking, steal his fountain pen and leave this one in its place."

The mention of the pen reminded Ciel of the inciting cause of his sticky situation from the day before which was the fountain pen ink running so he was grateful for the warning.

"You can also have my spare pair of glasses if you like," she offered. "He won't want to go anywhere near you if you wear them."

"Thank you for the offer, but you aren't supposed to wear glasses that have not been prescribed for you."

"Phantomhive!" Grell called him back over to his desk. "I've got something for you too."

The redhead smirked, showing his spiky cheshire cat teeth. "It's part of my personal collection so be careful."


	4. Plans and Phases

**Chapter 4:**

Armed with various accessories and verbal warning from the staff at Funtom Publishing, Ciel rang the doorbell to Sebastian Michaelis' flat with more confidence than if he had arrived empty handed and ignorant of what the pervert could do.

For example Grell had warned him that the author might open the door wearing nothing but a towel with slicked back wet hair, claiming that he had just got out the shower. Then the chances of the towel 'accidently' slipping down were very likely.

If that happened in real life Ciel decided just to kick him in the balls, throw the manuscript at him and then leave.

As he was debating his decision, the door was opened and Ciel saw, thankfully that the author was wearing more than a towel. Unlike last time he was dressed casually in a pair of dark blue jeans and a red fitted t shirt. The t shirt was tight and showed off the author's toned body.

"Good morning, Ciel," Sebastian greeted with a friendly smile and emphasis on 'Ciel'. "Come on in."

Ciel flinched at the sound of his name come from the pervert's mouth. Damn, that man knew his name, he cursed in his head as he entered the flat. He followed the author into his study and dumped the manuscript unceremoniously on the desk with a thump before sitting himself down on the sofa.

"Here is your manuscript, correct your mistakes, then hand it back to me," he said noncommittally and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

Sebastian frowned. So far his attempts at getting a reaction out of the intern had not been fruitful. Every person that had seem him in his favourite t shirt had not been able to keep their eyes off him. He had been planning to use the "I just got out of the shower" trick, but his common sense and experience had told him that wasn't the way to go if he wanted to seduce Ciel Phantomhive. It had to be subtle and unintimidating.

"I'll got make some tea before I start," the author said and left the room. Tea was always a good start in making acquaintance with someone.

As soon as the author had vacated the room Ciel crept over to his desk and swiped the pervert's fountain pen and replaced it with Mey-Rin's ballpoint pen. He also took all the other pens he could find in the desk drawers and placed them in his backpack. When he had finished he sat back down and texted Tanaka to enquire about the status of removing all the other occupants from Sebastian's block of flats. Tanaka's reply came a few moments later:

**All will have moved out by the end of this week**

Ciel smiled to himself. The next step would be to contact his best friend Alois Trancy as he knew the blonde had been looking for some new accommodation and would jump at the chance of free rent. This was one part of his revenge plan.

As he was in the middle of typing Sebastian entered carrying a tray with a silver wrought teapot, two rose patterned teacups, a white milk jug and a sugar pot. He placed the tray delicately on top of the coffee table in front of Ciel and began pouring the tea into the fine bone chine teacups.

"No teabags for you then," Ciel commented wryly he noted the care that Sebastian was taking with the tea.

"Of course not, I'm very fussy about my tea- yours was only just passable," Sebastian replied as he poured in the milk. "You can add your own sugar."

The intern breathed in the scent of the tea. "Is it... Darjeeling?"

The skills of a rich young master reveal themselves, Sebastian sardonically thought to himself, then he focused on what he was supposed to be doing. It was time for Phase 2 of his Seduce Ciel Phantomhive plan.

Carefully, he passed a filled teacup to Ciel. As he did so his hand 'accidently' slipped, spilling the tea over Ciel's trousers. The boy didn't yelp from the heat of the hot tea or even jump in shock, he just gave Sebastian a sharp look.

Unfazed by the lack of reaction, Sebastian continued on. "Oh dear, it seems as if you are going to have to change. I think I have a suitable change of clothes for you somewhere." He straightened up and turned to leave the room to retrieve the cat costume from the previous day.

"You don't need to go that far," Ciel's voice said from behind him and a rustling sound indicated that he had got up from the sofa. "I will just take my trousers off."

Unable to believe his ears (and luck) Sebastian turned around to see Ciel Phantomhive pull down his tea stained trousers to reveal that he was wearing a pair of skinny jeans underneath.

For the second time that morning Sebastian frowned. It seemed as if some of his actions had been anticipated. He would have to try another approach, but for now he would continue with the tea which had actually been a two prong attack and the second part would take effect when the intern actually drank the tea.

The tea expert poured out another cup of tea to replace the spilled one.

One of Ciel's eyebrows twitched at the action. Did the pervert really think that he was stupid enough to let his guard down and drink something that he had prepared? Bardroy had warned him and Ciel knew he would not have let his guard down anyway.

"You don't have to worry about pouring another cup- I've got my own tea," Ciel said and brought out a flask from his backpack along with a box which he opened to reveal a tea cup and saucer decorated with the Phantomhive family crest. "My butler made it for me." He smirked, knowing that he had Bardroy to thank for this.

Sebastian glared. His actions had been foreseen again. He would have to try something else. In the meantime he would have to work on his manuscript so that Bardroy wouldn't complain that he was deliberately not working in order to keep Ciel at his flat for longer.

Despondently, he sat down at his desk, pulled the manuscript closer and picked up the pen that was lying next to it, expecting it to be his usual fountain pen. Noting that it was feeling more like plastic than metal, he looked at it closely and realised that it was a plastic ball point pen. He rifled through his desk drawers to find his spare fountain pens, but he couldn't find any.

Damn. He couldn't 'accidently' spill anything on it so the ink would run. Someone must have warned Ciel about that. No son of an Earl used inexpensive ballpoint pens.

Ciel Phantomhive was clearly going to be hard to seduce.

He shot a look at the boy who was sitting comfortably on his sofa texting in his skinny jeans, looking like a stereotypical teenager. Sebastian sighed and resigned himself to rewriting his draft.

Ciel picked up his text from where he had left it and sent it to Alois. The text had asked Alois how bad his student accommodation currently was. Alois Trancy had been a student at the college he had attended and had eventually become his best and only friend. However Alois was now a student at London College of Fashion and was enjoying his student life to the full, apart from the shared accommodation, whereas Ciel had been forced into doing a year's internship by his father.

Alois' reply came a few moments later which was the usual tirade about how his flat mates didn't appreciate person cleanliness and the number of pubic hairs he had found blocking the shower drain that morning. This was something that Ciel could understand as he had never done any actual cleaning or manual labour until his internship at Funtom Publishing which required cleaning toilets as well as making tea. Ciel crafted out what he hoped was a persuading reply that would hopefully end up with Alois moving into one of the flats in the building.

_I've been looking for some prospective places for you with low rent that are in your price range and I think that I've found the perfect place for you. The rent is almost nothing and it isn't shared!_

Alois' reply came back almost instantly.

**I'll take it. But, is there some kind of catch?**

Ciel wondered how he should phrase that there would be a pervert BL novelist with a penchant for young boys living in the flat above him so he simply settled for not mentioning it.

_It's very spacious so there will be enough space for you to work on your degree and your creepy doujinshi. I will send you the details later and you should be able to move in at the end of this week._

**Thanks Ciel, you're awesome and I am missing you a lot.**

_If you move in to this flat, you will be able to see me a lot more..._

**_:D_ **

Ciel smiled as he placed his phone back into his pocket. Getting Alois to move in was only part of his plan. Having his best friend living on the floor below would be a comforting thought when he was trapped in the author's flat- he was sure that Sebastian would find plenty of excuses to get him to keep coming to his flat.

With that thought in mind, he glanced over at the author to see that the man was frantically scribbling away with his new ballpoint pen. He wondered why Sebastian chose to write BL as opposed to something more... normal. A traumatising childhood? A personal preference? Or just boredom?

He resolved to ask his mother at some point since she was apparently a fan of Sebastian Michaelis, if he was actually a good writer.

Sebastian felt Ciel's gaze on him and stopped writing once he had reached the end of a paragraph, to turn around and look at the intern.

"Admiring my physique, Ciel?"

That elicited a snort from the boy. "I've seen better," he said without thinking properly.

"So you have been checking me out," Sebastian retorted with a smirk and waited to observe Ciel's reaction.

Ciel flushed and scowled, looking exactly like a spoiled ten year old boy. Sebastian turned back round to concentrate on his manuscript so he didn't annoy Ciel too much.

However it was one victory to him- he had made Ciel Phantomhive blush, but that was nothing compared to what he was going to seduce the intern into doing.

This was only the beginning.


	5. Kinkiness and Cream

**Chapter 5:**

Back at the office at Funtom Publishing, Bardroy nervously watched the clock, waiting for Ciel to return from Sebastian's flat, hopefully unscathed. The hands on the clock seemed to move at an achingly slow speed. Time always seemed to pass slowly when you wanted it to pass in a flash.

Tick. Tock.

Bardroy placed another cigarette in his mouth and tried to concentrate on the draft that he was reading. His eyes passed right over the text and he found himself watching the clock again.

He had made Sebastian promise that he wouldn't do anything to Ciel, but... He knew Sebastian could be one hell of a devious demon- he had worked as his editor for nine years after all, he knew the man very well.

"Having second thoughts?" a high pitched voice broke through his reverie.

Grell perched himself on the edge of Bardroy's desk.

The chain smoking editor did not look up. "Do you ever do any work, Grell?"

The redhead pouted. "My darling Will is on holiday so I have nothing to edit."

"You edit other author's work too."

"But they pale in comparison to the works of art that my darling Will creates!" Grell swooned dramatically over the desk.

"Why did you help Ciel?" Bardroy asked suddenly as he pushed Grell's hair off the manuscript he was supposed to be reading.

Grell looked up at him. "Because he is straight- therefore he isn't a rival for Sebas-chan's affections. Plus, he's fun to shock with BL."

Using the manuscript he was in the process of proofreading, Bardroy swatted Grell over the head. "Just don't scare him too much. Some people are surprisingly fragile even if they pretend to be tough."

Grell took that to be a dismissal and slid off the desk. "I wonder what they're doing right now" he wondered aloud as he walked away. "Maybe you should ring to check if Phantomhive is still innocent."

That was indeed something that Bardroy was worrying about. His hand inched towards his phone... Then he stopped himself. Ciel had to cope with it himself. He could give the boy hints about Sebastian's usual tricks like tea spiking and spilling and he could tell Sebastian to keep his hands off him, but he couldn't physically intervene.

It had been bothering him ever since Ciel Phantomhive had started his internship at Funtom Publishing. Why had Earl Vincent Phantomhive sent his only son to work at a place that went through interns like a knife through butter and left them as burnt out shells of their former selves? There had to be a purpose. He guessed that the Earl was aware of what went on at Sebastian's flat.

So he had decided that Vincent had sent Ciel to him so he could build his character and confidence up so Ciel would become fit to inherit the title and the company. If he couldn't deal with one measly little author then how would be ever be suitable to take over the company?

The development of this theory had led to Bardroy trying to avoid interfering.

But he still didn't like leaving Ciel in the company of Sebastian. His hand twitched towards his phone again and he knew his thoughts were just going around in circles again. However, like Grell he wondered what they were doing.

* * *

The author in question sneezed as he was being discussed at the office. He finished his sentence and stretched his arms to rejuvenate his slowed blood flow. He had been writing for two hours straight and hadn't stopped to drink tea or ogle the intern that was sitting a few metres away from him, despite the temptation.

He stared up at the clock on the wall despondently. It was 12:35 and his stomach was telling him that it needed to be filled.

With that idea in mind Sebastian stood up. "Ciel, I'm going to make some lunch, would you like some?" he enquired smoothly and began to walk out of the room.

Ciel looked up from his game of Temple Run on his phone which had been his source of entertainment for the past two hours. "Stop right there," he ordered.

Sebastian stopped in his tracks. "Is there something wrong, Ciel?"

Ciel stood up. "I don't want to spend any more time here than necessary so could you please get back to work?"

The author quirked a smile. The intern wanted the opposite of what he wanted, soon that was going to change, but for now it wouldn't hurt to let the boy think that he was winning.

"I'll do another 15 minutes if you like, but only if you do something for me, Ciel," he said in his silkiest voice, emphasising 'Ciel'.

Ciel narrowed his eyes. He wished the author would stop saying his name every time he talked to him.

"What do you want?"

"I want you to call me by my name," Sebastian requested, knowing full well that he was annoying the intern by repeatedly saying his name.

"What? Sadist or pervert?"

Amusedly Sebastian shook his head. "No, my name is Sebastian, Ciel. Do you want me to get on with my work or not?"

Ciel scowled. "Fine, _Sebastian_ ," he said, making the name sound like a curse.

Sebastian smiled at the sound of Ciel saying his name and sat back down at his desk to continue on the manuscript. He had scored a second victory against Ciel's 3. The author stiffened as he heard Ciel come up behind him.

" _Sebastian,_ do you mind closing your eyes for a second and holding out your left hand?" Ciel asked suggestively and stepped closer to him.

Sebastian was suspicious as it didn't fit Ciel's usual shy behaviour, but his testosterone won over his brain and he held out his non dominant hand to Ciel.

As soon as he felt cold metal envelope his wrist he knew he had been fooled again. There was a solid click followed by another click. He opened his eyes to find Ciel smirking down at him. Sebastian stared down at his hand to find that his left hand had been handcuffed to his chair, he sighed.

"Very kinky, Ciel, but what is the purpose?"

The smirking intern perched himself on the edge of Sebastian's desk, now unafraid to sit close to the pervert as he couldn't move properly.

"They were a gift from Grell and I'm not going to unlock them until you have finished that bloody manuscript. If you get too hungry I might feed you something later."

"You are too kind."

Even Sebastian had to admit that handcuffing him so he would get his work done as fast as possible was a good idea and he hadn't been anticipating it. It seemed as if Ciel had scored another victory against him. Interestedly, he observed the intern who was staring straight at him with piercing blue eyes and a very straight posture. It was going to be fun to break him down so that those eyes stared at him with lust instead of anger and his fine white porcelain skin was blemished with love bites.

At this moment Ciel felt that Sebastian had been staring at him with half lidded eyes for a little longer than necessary and judging by his BL novels he really didn't want to know what the author was thinking or fantasising.

A sharp kick from Ciel's shoe penetrated through Sebastian's fantasy.

Ciel glared. "Get back to work! I'm not unlocking the handcuffs until you have finished."

Sebastian stared at Ciel for a second longer and picked up his pen again. "You're such a slave driver, Ciel. You should get a whip too, it would make this situation even better."

Instead of answering Ciel slid off the desk and left the room. He walked down the hallway and straight into the kitchen. Having Sebastian incapacitated had given the perfect opportunity to search the flat unhindered.

A small bottle that had been left out on the kitchen worktop caught his eye. He picked it up and read the informative label. He now knew what the pervert had put in his tea and he poured it down the sink. He filled it with water and put it back where he had found it.

After that he decided it would be best if he ensured that Sebastian didn't have any other supplies of aphrodisiac. A search of the kitchen cupboards revealed that the author was a tea fanatic, but didn't like sweet things- the only source of sugar were the sugar cubes that were used for adding to tea.

"He doesn't even have cake..." Ciel murmured under his breath. "Everyone likes cake. Freak."

The intrepid intern left the kitchen and walked further down the hallway to find a flight of stairs leading to another floor. This reminded Ciel that Sebastian did own the top two floors of the apartment building.

After a moment's hesitation he ascended the staircase to find himself in a giant bedroom that took up the whole floor with what was presumably a door leading to an ensuite bathroom on the other end of the room. The main colour scheme of the room was white. White walls, pristine white curtains and blindingly white bedding. The connotations of the colour were a complete contrast to the pervert's personality.

He approached the king size bed with some caution as if he was expecting Sebastian to suddenly appear in front of him and push him down. The duvet was perfectly arranged with no creases and Ciel didn't want to touch the bed as he would leave behind a crease and then Sebastian would know that he was interested in his bed and would never let the subject drop. Unlike the bedroom that Sebastian had dragged him into on the previous day there was nothing in this bedroom that seemed to reflect his perverted personality.

A search of all the other rooms in the flat didn't reveal much about Sebastian's personality apart from that fact that he liked cats; when Ciel opened the door to one of the rooms a group of cats jumped on him, causing his nose to run and his eyes to tear so he was not in a good mood when he returned to the study to find the author tapping his pen against the manuscript and staring out the window at the landscape.

Ciel just raised his eyebrows and sat back down on the sofa to eat his lunch which was a Strawberry Shortcake handmade by Tanaka. He forked the strawberries off the top first then started on the cake. In order to not waste any cream he licked the cream left over off his fork.

Then he became aware that Sebastian was watching him with a strange stare again.

"Is there something wrong, Sebastian?" he enquired annoyedly as he really didn't like people watching him eat.

"I'm running low on energy..." Sebastian groaned, hungrily eyeing the spot of cream that remained on Ciel's lips.

"Would you like some cake?" Ciel offered vindictively as he knew the author didn't like sweet things.

"Yes please, Ciel."

Using his fork, Ciel cut of part of the slice, got up and offered it to Sebastian who opened his mouth and winced as that taste of strawberries, cake, cream and sugar hit his tongue. He really didn't like sweet things, but it was worth it as he was being fed by Ciel.

"You've just given me an idea," the author said thoughtfully. "Can you stay next to me for a while?"

Out of curiosity and a desire to get Sebastian to finish the manuscript as fast as possible, Ciel perched himself on the desk again and resumed eating his cake to the sound of Sebastian's pen scrawling against paper. When he had finished his cake, Ciel licked the cream that had been left behind off his lips.

As he did he realised that Sebastian was watching him again.

"Do you have a problem, Sebastian?" he asked, beginning to get annoyed again. Eating cake always improved his mood, but having the pervert stare at him like the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood had the opposite effect.

"You've got some cream left on your lips," Sebastian pointed helpfully.

"Where?"

"I'll take care of it," the author promised and partially stood up to reach Ciel's face so he could lick off the cream with his tongue. He sat back down as soon as he had done it as the handcuffs had dug painfully into his wrist

Another kick in the head from Ciel rewarded his action.

"Hurry up and finish the bloody manuscript!"


	6. Kinkiness and Cream

**Chapter 6:**

Three Days later:

Ciel woke to the sound of tweeting birds outside his window and the sunlight pouring into his bedroom from a gap in the curtains. He stretched and sighed contentedly. As it was a Sunday he didn't have to go to Funtom Publishing and he was able to sleep in late. The best thing, however was that since Thursday was that he hadn't had to see Sebastian Michaelis as the author had finished his manuscript and Ciel had handed it in to Bardroy who had approved it to be published.

But he was sure that the author was using his free time now to plot how he was going to seduce him.

As he was sighing in contentment he remembered that he was supposed to be meeting Alois at his new flat which was of course in the same building as Sebastian's. He threw off his bedcovers and walked over to his wardrobe to choose his clothes for the day.

Due to the fact that he was going to be in very close proximity to Sebastian he pulled out his rarely worn black hooded top from a drawer and a pair of jeans to match that would serve as his disguise although he knew Alois who always wore flamboyant and clashing colours would complain about how boring he was.

After his shower he went down to the dining room to eat his breakfast. As he was spreading strawberry jam over his toast, Tanaka placed a heavy file in front of him with Sebastian's name written on the cover.

"Young master, this is everything I could find on him for the moment."

"For the moment?"

Tanaka nodded. "Your father has personal files on everyone that works at any of his companies which I can view, but for some reason Mr Michaelis' file is restricted. I can ask your father for permission-"

Ciel held up a toast crumb smeared finger to interrupt him. "That won't be necessary, this should be enough. Where is Dad at the moment?"

"He is in Paris for the rest of the month, but the Lady Rachel will be coming back in a couple of days."

"Okay. I wonder if she will being back any French cakes for me..." Ciel wondered happily, temporarily off subject.

The file caught his attention and he sobered. French cake was not the priority, destroying Sebastian Michaelis was.

He opened the file to find a collage of photos of Sebastian Michaelis at different ages. Interestingly there no photos of him below the age of 5. Ciel turned the page and found the answer- the author had been taken into care after his mother had committed suicide and his father was listed as "unknown". The common factor to all of the photos was the scarlet eyes that seemed to jump out of the paper, to avoid this Ciel banished the collage to the back of the file.

The information in the file included everything from his height to his GCSE and A Level grades to a list to all of his medical checkups. According to the file the author had obtained straight A* in every subject at GCSE and A Level which was almost the same as Ciel, but Ciel had failed Physical Education and Religious Education. Ciel also learned that Sebastian was 186cm tall which was a lot taller than Ciel.

The intern found the file so interesting that he completely forgot the time and when he checked his watch he realised that he was running late as he had promised to meet Alois at eleven o'clock.

Ciel arrived at Alois' flat at fifteen minutes past eleven. He had taken a taxi which had become stuck in traffic. Nervously, he pulled up his hood and entered the building which was now only occupied by Alois and the pervert. Fortunately Alois had chosen the ground floor flat so there wasn't any chance that Ciel would meet Sebastian in the lift or on the stairs.

"Ciel! I'm so happy to see you!" Alois squealed as soon as Ciel entered his flat. He threw his arms around Ciel and gave him a tight hug. "I've missed you so much."

"I...can't...breathe," Ciel choked from the tightness of the hug.

Alois released him immediately. "Sorry, I got a little too excited. By the way, I'm enjoying all of this space-" he gestured around at the living room which was very tidy compared to the average student flat.

"How's the bathroom?" Ciel asked wryly, knowing how fussy his friend was.

"Clean and private. Ciel, if you do get to go to university next year, do not live in shared accommodation unless there is a fit guy. But that's enough about me, how is your internship going?"

"It's a long story," Ciel sighed and sat himself down on Alois' purple sofa which also happened to be the colour of the blonde's outfit.

By the end of Ciel's summary of his internship so far at Funtom Publishing, Alois had his fists clenched in disgust over Sebastian's true lecherous personality.

"How dare he! And to think I used to be a fan of his books."

The intern groaned. Another secret BL fan? His internship at Funtom Publishing was certainly informing him about the secrets of people that he thought he knew. Alois' use of the past tense caught his attention after he realised that in addition to being a yaoi fan and a yaoi doujinshi artist his best friend also enjoyed reading BL novels.

"What do you mean, 'I used to be a fan'?"

In reply Alois walked over to one of his bookshelves and pulled out a handful of books and handed them to Ciel. To Ciel the books looked normal and unassuming as they had a plain cover, but when he saw the author's name: Michael Tainseba, he knew they were everything but.

"His earlier works were well written, but in the past couple of years the quality has seriously declined," Alois explained.

Ciel recalled reading somewhere in the file that sales of his books had been declining since he had started publishing three every year, but that was not the pressing issue; he would worry about finance when he was actually the CEO of Funtom Publishing.

"Alois, I need your help in obtaining revenge," he said. "You're the only person that I can trust."

The blonde grinned. "I knew there was a reason behind you allowing me to rent this flat, don't think I didn't notice your name on the lease that I signed."

"Well spotted."

Alois crossed one leg over the other. "I agree that Sebastian should be taught a lesson; I have met too many people like him that believe they can get away with anything just because they have power and good looks. What do you want me to do?"

"Do you have any doujinshi projects at the moment?"

"No, I haven't done anything since I started uni, all my drawing equipment is in a box somewhere. Wait a second, I think I know what your plan is..."

Ciel nodded. "I would like you to illustrate and publish everything that Sebastian Michaelis has done on the internet which would then turn everyone against him."

"Are you absolutely sure that it is the right thing to do? Remember, once something is put on the internet, even if you remove it, a trace of it will always remain," his friend reminded him and leaned forward to check that Ciel was absolutely sure.

The blue haired teenager was sitting up straight and there was a fiery spark in his eyes which convinced Alois that his friend was prepared to go forward with the idea.

"I'm very sure. People can be very easily manipulated by what they read and see and we can use this to turn the public against Sebastian Michaelis and destroy is reputation and life."

The university student picked up his sketchbook from the coffee table and began to sketch out plans.

"Do you want the characters to look like you and Sebastian and have the same names?" Alois enquired, pausing in the act of sketching out Ciel in a pair of cat ears.

"Change my name, but keep everything else the same," Ciel instructed.

"Right. Ah! I don't know what Sebastian or his apartment look like. I caught sight of someone with longish black hair walking up the stairs yesterday, but I didn't see enough to be able to draw him."

Ciel waved away his concern. "You can always knock on the door and introduce yourself as his new neighbour or something along those lines."

A thought struck Alois and he closed his sketchbook and crossed his legs again.

"What benefit am I going to get out of this situation?"

Ciel grabbed Alois' sketchbook and flipped through it. He knew Alois wasn't talking about a monetary benefit, but considering the last time he had got Alois' help with something in college the blonde had made him model his collection of garments for his Textiles coursework which would have not normally been a traumatising experience, but Alois had designed a collection of Lolita inspired dresses. Ciel knew that he had to be careful what he agreed to when it was in relation to his best friend.

"The knowledge that I am still innocent and can be shocked by all those yaoi manga that you read- as well as a cheap aflat to rent."

Alois cocked his head on one side. "Pas mal, but not good enough. As it happens, I have designed a new collection of garments and I need a model..."

"Women's clothes or men's clothes?"

"...Both and guess who is modelling both genders?"

"Alois, you can't make me do this, I'm your best friend."

"I designed the clothes with you in mind and I even bought a wig that matches your hair."

"What's your theme?" Ciel asked with a sinking feeling in his stomach. Alois was hard to predict sometimes. He prayed that it didn't involve dressing up as some form of a furry animal. A certain cat costume floated around in his brain.

"Aristocracy in the 19th Century. Since you are going to be an Earl when you are older I thought this would be perfect for you."

Alois stood up and pulled Ciel up before the intern could protest. This gave Ciel a sense of déjà vu as that was how he had been forced into the cat costume. Ciel pulled his hand away forcefully.

"I will model for you, just don't drag me and force any dresses over my head."

The blonde stopped in his tracks, realising what he was reminding Ciel of.

"Wait here, I will get the outfits."

Ciel sat back down and listened to the sound of Alois crashing around in another room. Although he was able to be in Sebastian's company, he was still traumatised by being bitten on his ear, dressed up and kissed. He was sure that the mental wound would heal when he obtained revenge.

A moment later Alois returned carrying an armful of clothes and a long grey blue and curly wig. Ciel pulled the first outfit from the pile and held it up by the hanger it was hanging on. It was a navy blue velvet jacket with white button, a white frilly blouse and a pair of shorts which did not seem too bad to model for a photo shoot by Alois' standards.

"Hmm, I think we should start with this one," Alois said and held up a long pink silk dress which a white under layer and lots of ribbon and roses. He also produced a wig and a hat. "Let's get the worst one out of the way first. At least you don't have to wear a corset. I've also found the perfect place to do the photo shoot."

"It wouldn't happen to involve me being seen in public with this dress and wig on?"

Alois smirked. "It's very close to here. Only a few people will see you and the chances of running into Sebastian Michaelis are very low as I've only seen him once- I don't think he ever goes out.

15 minutes later Ciel would find himself regretting to agree to cross dress.


	7. Toast and Modelling

**Chapter 7:**

The raven haired author was returning to his flat after a meeting with his publisher when he encountered a very peculiar sight. Standing outside the door to the ground floor flat was a short girl dressed in a pink marshmallow of a dress complete with white frills and striped ribbon.

The figure turned to face him as he walked past and then suddenly turned away before he could catch sight of her face which intrigued the writer as he couldn't quite work out why a girl dressed up as someone from the Victorian Era with very long hair was present in the area. In any case it would take up some time; he wasn't able to see his amusing new toy until the next day.

So he stopped to talk to her. "Are you the new occupant here?" he enquired politely as he was aware that all the occupants of the flats below him had moved out over the course of the week.

Instead of turning to face him and replying she violently tried to turn the door handle of the door to her flat. Sebastian frowned, it seemed as if she was trying to escape from him which was an unusual occurrence as he was normally very popular with females.

"Are you locked out?" Sebastian asked as the girl rattled the door handle again. She ignored him and rang the doorbell.

As the author was debating whether or not to offer the strange girl the chance to use his phone to call a locksmith, the door to the flat opened and a blond boy carrying a digital camera and tripod stepped out.

"Sorry for accidently leaving you locked out- I didn't hear the door slam-" he said to the girl and broke off as he caught sight of Sebastian.

"Are you my new neighbour?" Sebastian asked.

"Ah, yes. I'm Alois Trancy."

The author noted that the blonde seemed to be slightly unnerved for some reason.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Sebastian Michaelis. What is the name of the young lady?"

He turned to look at the girl who still had her back to him.

""Her" name is... Celia," Alois replied slowly and caught sight of 'Celia's' angry face. "We need to leave now, so good bye and it's nice to meet you."

As he spoke his tripod slipped out of his arms and fell on the ground with a metallic thunk. Sebastian picked it up for him, wondering why the pair seemed to be so nervous around him.

"Would you like help carrying your equipment?" he offered, interested to see what their reactions would be as they clearly weren't enjoying his presence. "Celia doesn't look the type of person to carry heavy equipment."

Celia turned to glare at him and rapidly turned her face back, but his quick eyes caught sight of an azure blue eye which reminded him of his latest toy. Now even her hair colour reminded him of the intern who he hadn't seen for four days.

"I think we will be fine," Alois answered and put his arm through Celia's. "I've found a suitable place for the photo shoot, but the sun will be in the wrong place if we don't get there soon."

He held out his hand for his tripod and Sebastian passed it to him, unwilling to let someone who reminded him of Ciel Phantomhive go gallivanting off with a blonde. The tripod seemed to slip through Alois' hands and landed heavily on Sebastian's foot causing him to cry out in pain.

"Ah! I'm sorry, I am a very clumsy person," the blonde apologised before picking it up and promptly dropping it on Sebastian's other uninjured foot. "I'm so sorry."

Sebastian gave him a sharp look, unwilling to believe that it had landed perfectly twice on his feet which were slightly too far away from where Alois was standing.

The sharp gaze reminded Alois that he was supposed to be in a hurry so he scooped up the tripod and half dragged "Celia" out the building.

Sebastian watched them go, noting that Celia had a very unladylike walk which seemed very masculine and her hair looked too shiny and tidy like a wig.

It was also strange that all the occupants of the other flats had moved out within a short space of time, but that wasn't an unusual occurrence in London where most of the housing in high end areas went to rich foreign buyers. However Alois Trancy was too young to be well off enough to rent or purchase a flat in the area which brought another teenage boy to mind.

Four days ago, after unlocking the handcuffs, Ciel Phantomhive had rapidly exited the apartment carrying the manuscript without even saying good bye. Since then the intern had always been on his mind so he hadn't been concentrating on what was going on around him, he had only been focused on trying to arrange matters with Funtom Publishing so he could see more of Ciel.

But now he focused completely on the matter at hand: the blue grey haired girl in a pink dress that reminded him of Ciel.

Then he realised that he had been very short sighted about the whole matter. The answer was very simple.

The girl reminded him of Ciel Phantomhive because 'she' was Ciel Phantomhive.

This explained 'her' awkwardness and refusal to face him and the mannish walk.

It wasn't a foreign dignitary that had bought out the other occupants, it was Ciel Phantomhive. He had the means and presumably Alois was his partner in his plan of revenge against Sebastian.

His strange feminine attire was possibly Alois' price for helping him out with his plan. His blood boiled at the thought of this. No one else could dress up Ciel Phantomhive _and_ take photos.

On the spot he knew that he had to follow the pair to ensure that the blonde didn't try anything with Ciel.

* * *

"Ciel, I'm so sorry about accidently locking you out and leaving you there with that perverted author," Alois apologised as soon as they had crossed the road and were away from the flat.

"I suppose it's better that he saw me dressed as a girl called Celia and not as Ciel Phantomhive- I'd hate to know what would have happened then, he might get the idea that I actually like him," Ciel shivered and scratched at his head as the wig was itchy. "This dress is so heavy, how far are we walking?"

As he complained he became aware that people on the street were staring at him. "Alois, everyone is giving me strange looks."

"This is London, there are so many strangely dressed people; they won't remember you. Besides, most students at my uni dress in weirder outfits," Alois replied, unconcerned by all the stares which were something that you had to get used to if you were a boy that dressed in booty shorts all year round.

The pair turned the corner and arrived at a child's play park which was fortunately empty. The park was small with a one set of swings, a roundabout and a climbing frame and the equipment was very antiquated compared to most parks in London. Alois set up his tripod and camera and took some test shots of Ciel who was precariously balanced on a child's swing.

"Is this all I have to do?" Ciel called out hopefully as he didn't want to have to start posing like he had done for Alois' Lolita photo shoot.

The blonde snorted in amusement. "Far from it, Celia my dear- I'm just working out the right setting."

Ciel scowled and adjusted his wig self consciously. Alois flicked through the photos on his camera to check which setting produced the best effect.

"I'm ready!" he said enthusiastically and pulled Ciel up off the swing. "Just to warm up we might as well start with the stereotypical Lolita pose."

"Not again," Ciel groaned before turning his feet inwards, putting a finger to his face and assuming a puzzled expression.

"Ciel, you look like you're sucking a lemon, try smiling," Alois complained.

After another 15 minutes of instructions and complaints Ciel finally started to relax slightly into his role and managed a better feminine expression and Alois obtained some suitable photos.

"I think we've done enough," Alois said at last and Ciel, who was currently sitting on the roundabout slumped in relief. If Alois wasn't incremental to his plan there was no way he would have agreed to this. "Actually... just to be safe, one more."

The unwilling model sat up straight again and smiled. As he did someone came up silently behind him and joined the photo. A shiver went down Ciel's spine at the same time Alois shouted, "Sebastian's behind you!" in warning.

Ciel jumped in fright and turned to see Sebastian Michaelis in a black trench coat standing behind the roundabout. There was a glint in the older man's eye that Ciel did not like the look of.

"Hello Celia, or should I say, Ciel Phantomhive?"

Ciel's heartbeat began to increase for the second time that day. If this business with Sebastian Michaelis went on for any longer he knew that he was going to have some problems with hypertension.

More importantly, being witnessed cross dressing as a girl by a person that had dressed you in a cat costume and tried to molest you was not fortunate. Ciel knew he couldn't bluff his way out of it as Sebastian clearly knew it was him.

He gritted his teeth and greeted the pervert politely, "Hello Sebastian, how are you today?"

"I was feeling a little down, but then I spotted my favourite intern dressed as a cute girl and my mood improved dramatically," he smiled and leaned forward to get closer. "If you are really that interested in me, you don't need to cross dress- I quite like the normal Ciel."

Ciel kicked him in the face with a very accurate aim despite the layers of lace and silk and slid off the roundabout.

"Thanks for the high heeled boots, Alois," he said as he walked over to join a very bemused Alois.

Sebastian touched his aching forehead gingerly and felt a lump beginning to form. At least there was no blood, he reflected. He switched his attention back to the pair of teenagers who were walking away from him.

"Ciel, I took some photos of you too. Imagine what your father would say if I sold them to a newspaper and told them that they were photos of the future Earl Phantomhive."

Ciel flinched for a second, but recovered his composure as he had dealt with some similar situations before.

"He would get the photos removed before it was published and dispose of the person that took the photos in the first place," he replied without even turning around. "Do you want your body to be found at the bottom of the Thames?"

"No thank you. What would you do if I posted them on the internet and suggested that you two are an item? It would never do for the future Earl to be homosexual."

Alois dealt with this threat, after all it was his specialist area. "Political correctness is very in fashion these days. It would make the Phantomhive family look very modern and up to date. Just give up, Sebastian and find a new victim."

The experienced pervert sighed dramatically. "I suppose I will have to keep them for my personal viewing pleasure..."

At this Ciel and Alois turned to face Sebastian.

"What do you want, Sebastian?" Ciel asked, disgusted at the trick that the author had pulled. No one wanted to know that photos of them were being used for someone else's pleasure.

"First, please tell me that you two are not going out or sleeping with each other."

This had been worrying Sebastian. They did seem to be very close and he couldn't imagine that Ciel would cross dress in a multi layered pink dress for just anyone.

"We're just friends," Alois replied with a grin. "With benefits," he added to annoy the author.

"We are best friends," Ciel corrected.

In his mind Sebastian breathed a sigh of relief and moved on to the next question.

"Why don't you find me attractive?"

That was the million pound question. On average Sebastian found that 9 in 10 people, males and females, were attracted to him and stared after him as he walked down the street. In most cafes or restaurants that he frequented a waiter or waitress would flirt with him. He had even had his drink spiked in some places. But Ciel had rejected his kiss- no one had ever done that before and had kicked him in various places three times and had outsmarted him several times despite being 10 years younger and inexperienced.

"I'm straight," Ciel stated simply, the foreseeing that Sebastian would make a remark that he could be converted to the non straight side, he expanded. "If I was homosexual, you would be the last person I would be interested in- you are definitely not prospective partner material: you see people as toys to pass the time and all you seem to think about is sex."

The future Earl hitched up his dress so he could move without tripping up and walked off with his best friend, leaving Sebastian alone in the park to digest his statement.

 


	8. Plans and Phases

**Chapter 8:**

Once they had returned to Alois' flat, the pair finally relaxed and Ciel changed back into his black ensemble and raided the kitchen for cake. Much to his happiness he found a pack of Angel cake next to the box of PG Tips tea bags.

He cut the cake as the kettle was boiling and checked that the milk in the fridge was still in date as he did not want a case of food poisoning. Once the kettle had boiled he poured the water into the mug with the teabag, pushed the teabag out with a teaspoon and added a liberal amount of milk followed by a generous helping of sugar- six days at Funtom Publishing had made him a professional at making tea using teabags.

When he brought the mugs of tea and cake into the living room, Alois was flicking through the photos he had just taken on his laptop.

"Was Sebastian Michaelis what you expected?" Ciel asked interestedly as he waited for his tea to cool down so he could drink it without burning his mouth.

This was what Alois had been waiting for. When he had first met the man he was polite, but once he knew that Celia was really Ciel his attitude had changed completely.

"Ciel, did you see how he looked at you!? It was like a fox chasing after a rabbit..."

To demonstrate his point he enlarged the photo that he had taken at the same time Sebastian made an appearance behind Ciel and spun the laptop around to show the intern who flinched.

"I know, but maybe he is having second thoughts about trying to get into my pants after what I said to him."

Alois shook his head. "He writes BL, he is a professional at this kind of thing. He will still try to get you, he will just vary his tactics a little."

Ciel sipped his tea thoughtfully, thankful that he had asked Alois for help, as despite the blonde's mediocre grades, he always had a good insight into people.

"If possible, could you please start illustrating as quickly as possible before I lose my innocence?"

Alois took a slice of cake. "I was thinking about your plan just now and I think I know who you especially want to rile up."

Ciel grinned. "Who?"

"Your fiancée Elizabeth or Lizzie as she prefers to be called as well as your aunts Frances and Angelina."

"Correct. I'm guessing from when they nearly tried to murder you that they will go after Sebastian. It's only a matter of getting them to read it."

Theatrically Alois shivered. "I still feel a chill go down my spine when I remember that day."

Within a week of starting college Ciel knew that he wasn't going to make any friends as most people knew each other from secondary school and his accent made him stick out a mile along with his lack of height and he was generally avoided and that was before someone looked up his name and found out that he was the only son of Earl Vincent Phantomhive.

In his second week Ciel found someone in a similar situation; an aspiring fashion designer named Alois Trancy was maligned due to his flamboyant personality and his very strange fashion. At the end of the second week the pair became friends and then best friends after a month of drinking tea and eating cake together in the college canteen.

One day Ciel had invited Alois around his house for tea as he had told his best friend all about Tanaka's tea and desserts and Alois had expressed an interest in sampling,

The situation had taken a turn for the worst when Alois, due to his designer flair and enthusiasm for Victorian England, had thrown his arms around Ciel excitedly to thank him for inviting him to his house which was a perfect encapsulation inside and outside of Victorian Architecture. This was normal for Alois, and Ciel had become accustomed to the sudden hugging.

Unfortunately the hug had been witnessed by Elizabeth Midford, Ciel's fiancée who took an immediate dislike to Alois due the fact that he hugged Ciel and his outfit screamed 'gay'. To make the situation even worse she had just come back from a fencing lesson so she had challenged him to a duel.

Then, as if the situation could not get any detrimental Ciel's aunts Frances and Angelina walked into the room and saw Alois with his arms around Ciel.

* * *

_Flashback:_

_Confronted by three sets of angry eyes, Alois decided it would be best to step away from Ciel who was frozen like a statue in fright and was not likely to be any help in the situation._

_"Hello, I'm Alois Trancy. It's nice to meet you all," he greeted nervously, trying to ignore the fact that the blonde teenage girl had a foil in her hand as did the taller blonde. The other woman was red haired and had quite a presence due to the fact that her entire outfit was red, the colour of blood and she had a very sharp fringe._

_"I'm Lady Elizabeth Ethel Cordelia Midford," Lizzie introduced herself, out of politeness as her mother was always lecturing her about manners. "What were you doing to my fiancée?"_

_Alois blinked in surprise at the word_ _'fiancée'_ _and cast a look at Ciel who was now unfrozen and looked apologetic as he was sure that it was a surprise to find out suddenly that your best friend had a fiancée that you had never heard about._

_"He wasn't doing anything bad, Lizzie- it's something that he does every day. There's no need to challenge him to a duel over that."_

_"That's quite right," Frances agreed. "We all need to challenge him to a duel to make it fair. Ciel had a weak constitution and we don't need someone who is an outsider stunting his growth."_

_She cast an unimpressed look over Alois who squirmed uncomfortably under her gaze. "Especially someone feminine like you. Ciel needs to be more masculine before he can marry my daughter."_

_"Aunt Frances," Ciel sighed before turning to his favourite aunt who currently had the least murderous aura. "Aunt Ann, please tell me that you have a sensible opinion of my best friend?"_

_"Don't bother challenging him to a duel," she answered immediately and the pair of boys relaxed. "Just ask him what his predicted grades are and what subjects he is taking. If he is below a D, kick him out and if he takes anything scientific or mathematical, he can stay."_

_Alois and Ciel exchanged nervous looks as Alois didn't take any academic subjects and his highest grades were in Textiles and Dance._

_"What if I meet one criteria and not the other?" Alois enquired._

_"It will be decided with a duel of course," Angeline answered with a tight lipped smile._

_Ciel face palmed. Thanks to his relations there was no way that he was ever going to be able to keep a friend. If he was lucky Alois still might greet him when they passed in the corridor at college. If he ignored him... then that was the end of his social life._

_"Alois, can you leave the room for a second?" he requested, so he could talk some sense into his relations._

_Alois nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him._

_"You know that I go to a normal college and I don't have home tutors anymore," Ciel began once Alois had left the room. "He is the only friend that I have made since I started, please don't cause him to run away screaming from me, I will end up alone again."_

_Aunt Frances looked slightly guilty. "I suppose we were a little harsh. What merit does the boy have?"_

_Ciel sensed an opportunity and picked up Alois' Textiles coursework folder which had been placed on a chair before the arguments started. He flipped to a page of designs that he knew Lizzie would like as they were Lolita and showed her._

_Lizzie slackened her grip on her fencing foil and she browsed the designs happily. Frances and Angelina joined her and they went through every page._

_"He does have some talents," Angelina admitted. "What else is he good at?"_

_"Dancing, his preferred is the Waltz."_

_"If I remember correctly, you cannot dance without stepping on your partner's feet, you should get him to teach you," Aunt Frances informed him._

_"Does that mean he can still be my friend?" Ciel asked hopefully._

_The three females exchanged looks before nodding._

_"If he makes me one of those Lolita dresses," Lizzie added._

_"And if he teaches you the Waltz so you can partner Lizzie at the next ball," Frances said. "Call him back in."_

_Seconds later Alois was standing in front of Ciel's relations gain who now seemed slightly less intimidating as they were not glaring so fiercely._

_"We have decided you can stay friend with Ciel," Angeline announced._

_"But if you ever turn him feminine or do anything you shouldn't:" Frances continued._

_"I will duel you with a real sword," Lizzie continued on from her mother."_

_"And if you ever end up in hospital, you might be missing some vital organs when you leave," Angelina said as she worked as a doctor at the main hospital in London._

_"I promise that I will never do anything like that to Ciel," Alois promised wholeheartedly. "Now Miss Midford, which Lolita dress would you like me to make?"_

* * *

"I swear, if I didn't design Lolita dresses for my coursework and if I didn't know how to dance, I would have been beaten to death in a duel," Alois reminisced thoughtfully.

Ciel smiled. "All you did was hug me. Sebastian has dressed me up as a cat, kissed me- with tongue, tried to drug me, licked cream off my face... I can't wait for them to get their hands on him."

"I don't think he has any qualities that would save him," Alois replied and took a sip of tea. "All he does is write BL which, may I add, is not particularly hard."

A thought struck Ciel. "What if they are fans of his work? Apparently my mother is."

The fashion designer laughed. "I can't picture your Aunt Frances reading one of his books or your fiancée. In any case their protective personalities would overrule their love for BL. It will be okay."

Ciel set his empty mug down on the coffee table.

"I have a feeling that Sebastian will be planning something even worse now as I told him what I really thought about him."

As if on cue, Ciel's phone buzzed and he saw that he had an incoming call from Bardroy.


	9. Secret Relationships and Scenarios

**Chapter 9:**

The next morning, in the office at Funtom Publishing Ciel stormed across the office to sit down at his desk and fume. He had just been informed by Bardroy that Sebastian Michaelis had retracted his latest BL novel and had proposed writing a new series of BL stories instead of just one off novels.

Worst of all, it had been approved by his father was currently in Paris for business.

This meant that instead of not seeing Sebastian for a few months as the draft had been finished, he would be starting the whole process over again and he knew there was no way that the author was going to succumb to the handcuff trick again.

Grell looked over at him and decided to join him. He sat himself down on Ciel's desk.

"I take it that you've heard the news."

The intern responded by groaning. "...Yes."

"Did you know that Bardroy made him promise not to touch you non consensually?"

Ciel looked up at the redhead in surprise. "He did?"

That did explain a few things. He had been expecting the pervert to jump him when he had entered the apartment a few days ago. It also explained why he had gone to the trouble of drugging his tea and hadn't gone any further than licking cream off his mouth. He was trying to seduce Ciel into making a move on him which technically wouldn't be non consensual, like how Sebastian couldn't get into trouble for what he had done with the interns.

Grell nodded. "It's true. He feels that it is his duty to look after you for some reason. It might be your innocence and youth; you are the youngest intern that we have ever had."

"Why are you helping me?" Ciel questioned, as he had been wondering why Grell's attitude towards him had changed dramatically.

"I would hate to see you lose your innocence as I wouldn't be able to tease you anymore. Besides, I'm not teaching yet another intern how to make my tea and coffee."

"That's your real motive," Ciel grumbled, but he smiled anyway. "Your present was useful last time."

He related to Grell how he had utilised the handcuffs who was very entertained by the story.

"If you like, I can lend you my entire collection of toys," Grell offered and returned to his desk to retrieve a box from a drawer. He handed it to Ciel who shook it suspiciously and heard the noise of beads rolling around as well as metal clanking. He had a feeling that he didn't want to see the contents. Finny, who had been listening to the entire conversation whisked the box out of Ciel's hands.

"Grell, giving those kinds of things would give him a fright- he's too young," Finny reprimanded his co worker as he knew exactly what was in the box as it had been a failed Valentine's present to Grell's beloved Will who had opened it and the promptly thrown it back at Grell, hitting him in the face.

A dark presence in front of Ciel's desk made himself known. "I don't know about that. I wouldn't mind giving some of those things a try. What do you think, Ciel?"

The intern recognised the voice instantly- it was impossible to forget the voice of someone that had dressed you up in a cat costume.

"Sebastian!? What are you doing here?"

Sceptically, he appraised the author who was dressed formally, like he had been when they had first met, in a plain black suit and tie. Ciel guessed that he had come to Funtom Publishing for a meeting of some sort.

"I dropped by just to see you," Sebastian said and leaned over Ciel's desk to give him a kiss on the cheek.

Before Ciel could get out his borrowed knuckleduster to punch him in the face, Bardroy shouted from the doorway.

"Sebastian! What are you doing here? The meeting is in another room."

His eyes noticed the close proximity of Sebastian to Ciel as well as the intern's angry face.

"Hurry up, we are all waiting for you," Bardroy said brusquely.

Sebastian winked at Ciel before leaving the room, followed by an irked Bardroy.

There was an awkward silence for a moment once the pair had left.

"Wow, Sebas-chan clearly has the hots for you," Grell commented to fill the silence.

Ciel shot him a murderous look. "Why is that bastard here? I thought that his new series had been decided."

"It's a meeting to decide what exactly the storyline of the series will be, based on research that has been carried out since the last meeting."

"Apparently it is also a video conference, as the CEO will also be there," Mey-Rin added.

Ciel twitched at the mention of his father. What on earth was the man doing approving Sebastian's new BL series? That said, why had his father gotten him into the situation in the first place? There had to be something there.

"I swiped the list of possible scenarios from Bardroy's desk," Grell said and pulled a sheet of paper out of his pocket."Do you all want to hear them?"

"Do you ever do any work, Grell?" Ciel asked interestedly as he had never seen the redhead do any actual work yet.

"My darling Will is on holiday," he answered as if that explained it all.

Finny saw the puzzled look on Ciel's face and hastened to explain it to him.

"Grell is William T. Spears' editor and refuses to edit anyone else's work. In case you have been wondering, he is Grell's unrequited love."

Grell overheard them and waggled his finger playfully. "That's where you're wrong, Finny: it's not unrequited. Once he stopped by just as I was about to leave as he wanted to add something into his draft right before the deadline and we both stayed here all night talking and writing."

Grell stared off in the distance happily as he reminisced, forgetting that most of the talking had been insults from his beloved Will.

To change the subject Ciel picked up the piece of paper from where Grell has left it on his desk and read the list of scenarios. He flinched when he read the fifth one down, 'A secret relationship between a teenage Earl and his butler'. He began to get an unsettled feeling in his stomach and he continued down the list to distract himself. Then he read 'A steamy relationship between a young intern and an older author.'

Ciel hurriedly put the list down. He was beginning to get an insight into how Sebastian's brain worked.

The pervert was obviously going to push forward one of the two ideas which would lead to him having to spend more time with Ciel for 'research' which equalled more opportunities for him to try and seduce Ciel.

Grell nodded, seeing Ciel's reaction to the list. "I think the one with the intern is aimed at you, but Bardroy will vote against it for you as well as the other people at the meeting because everyone knows exactly what goes on at the flat and if it was published it would negatively affect Funtom Publishing's reputation."

Ciel breathed a sigh of relief. At least that scenario would not be used, but the one involving an Earl and his butler stood out from the rest on the ones on the list which were very cliché, this meant that it was the one most likely to be chosen.

With this in mind he turned to Grell for a second opinion. "Which one do you like the best?"

After a moment of decision Grell pointed to the Earl and butler one which confirmed Ciel's suspicions. To obtain a third opinion he handed it to Finny who immediately picked the same one. Finny then folded it into a paper plane and directed it at Mey-Rin who unfolded it and immediately said:

"A secret relationship between a teenage Earl and his butler."

The secret Earl-to-be groaned. "Why do you all pick that one?"

"Because it was against the law to be homosexual- I assume that this is taking place in the Victorian Era as that was when the aristocracy was at its peak, meaning that it is forbidden love and everyone knows women love forbidden romances. In addition females adore Victorian England as it seems to have some kind of elegance and mystery," Mey-Rin answered with her knowledge of the main target market of BL.

Mentally, Ciel selected her to be a potential new friend of Alois who was very fond of Victorian England if his latest collection of garments were any indication.

"The CEO of Funtom Publishing is apparently an Earl or something of the sort," Finny said thoughtfully. "He might be unwilling to acquiesce that scenario especially if he has a butler."

Upon hearing this Ciel had a horrible mental image of his father and Tanaka kissing. He didn't know Tanaka's actual age, but he was very sure that there was at least a 30 year ago gap between them which made it all the more disturbing.

"Personally I think his maxim would be profit and he wouldn't care about feeling embarrassed," the snide son replied with a small smile; he did know his own father quite well after all.

"So are we all betting that the Earl and butler one will be selected? How much is everyone going to bet?" Grell asked as he got out his wallet. "Someone has to bet the opposite to make it fair."

"I will bet £10," Ciel said as knew he always lost bets so he was hoping that he would also lose this one.

"I'll bet £2 against as that is all I can afford and I don't think the CEO will approve," Finny said.

"I'm betting £15 as I am very sure that it will be the one chosen," Mey-Rin called from across the office. "When do you think that we will find out?"

"Tomorrow probably, unless Sebastian comes back here. Ciel, do you mind making some tea?" Finny asked.

This effectively ended the conversation as once Ciel had left the room the editors resumed their normal activities of proof reading and drinking tea once it had arrived. Sebastian did not return to the office to visit Ciel so the day was uneventful.

* * *

The following morning was when something out of the ordinary occurred.

Instead of being woken up by his alarm clock, Ciel was stirred by the sound of his bedroom door opening and someone coming into his room. Deciding that he was imagining it, he lost himself to sleep again.

Then he heard the rattling of crockery and a voice say:

"Young master, it's time to wake up."

The scent of Earl Grey pervaded his sleepy sense of smell and he realised there was something wrong with the situation. He never drank tea in bed and Tanaka never woke him up unless he was running late.

Ciel sat bolt upright to find Sebastian Michaelis a millimetre away from his face.

As if the situation could not get any worse, there was a very perverted smirk on his face and he was dressed as a butler.


	10. Chocolate and Cattiness

**Chapter 10:**

"Sebastian! What the fucking hell are you doing in my bedroom!?" Ciel yelled loudly before his head started spinning from a sudden increase in blood flow.

"You shouldn't sit up so fast," Sebastian answered and pushed him back down gently. "And watch your language. The nobility don't swear like that."

Ciel was not amused. He had woken up to find the sadistic pervert in his bedroom; he wasn't exactly going to be polite to him.

Sebastian smiled down at him, admiring the striped pyjamas that the boy was wearing as they were unusually childlike and Ciel was 19 after all. Personally he had been hoping for a nightshirt or just underwear or nothing at all as that opened many avenues of possibility for BL, but he had to admit that it would be very out of character for Ciel.

"Research," was the simple answer that he gave to the boy's question.

Now that Ciel's mind had successfully disposed of the last vestiges of sleep and he fully remembered what had happened the day before. In the office they had all been speculating about which scenario would be chosen, with the secret relationship between a teenage Earl and his butler being the most likely. Judging by the fact that Sebastian was in his bedroom dressed as a butler, they had all been correct in their assumptions.

Mindful of the fact that he had to be at Funtom Publishing for 8 o'clock and being determined to ignore Sebastian, Ciel looked at his bedside table to check the time on his clock. He frowned when he noticed that his alarm clock was no longer there.

Sebastian noted the glance. "Would you like to know the time, young master?"

Ciel glared at him and the butler took that to be an affirmative. He drew out his pocket watch that was on a chain.

"It is now 8 o'clock, young master."

Ciel pushed aside his bedcovers and stood up, intent on getting ready as fast as possible and rushing to work.

"What are you doing, young master?"

"I'm late for work and where did my alarm clock go?"

Sebastian laid a hand on his shoulder. "I abstracted your alarm clock earlier this morning as you don't have to go into work for the rest of the week," he said and waited for the penny to drop.

Ciel added the fact that the pervert was in his house for research to the fact that he was dressed as a butler and Tanaka obviously hadn't beaten him to death with his Baritsu. This added up to one thing: his father was making him spend the whole week with Sebastian just so the author could use him as research to write his next book series.

"That bastard! He calls himself a parent and leaves me in the hands of a known pervert," he muttered darkly before straightening up. "Sebastian, get rid of the tea, I don't drink tea this early and whilst you're at it, stay out of my room."

"So you don't want any help getting dressed? It's what butlers used to do for their masters in the 19th Century..." Sebastian asked hopefully.

Ciel turned round to face him. "If you know so much about butlers and the 19th Century, then you don't need to be here."

Sebastian immediately left the room after that. Once Ciel was alone in his bedroom he tried to think of his countermove to the pervert's unexpected move. He had never expected the bastard to invade his own home, with his father's permission. He ran a hand through his hair in agitation. Alois was in university today so he couldn't go and see him to avoid seeing Sebastian. He could invite Lizzie over for lunch, but he didn't want the pair to meet whilst Sebastian still had his friendly butler mask on as he knew his fiancée was susceptible to people with friendly faces that served her tea and cake.

Aunt Frances wasn't a possibility either as he would be suspicious if he suddenly invited her around for lunch as, generally he tried to avoid her as much as possible and suspicion was the last thing he needed.

No, for the time being he was going to have to play the game himself without using any pawns. After all if the King does not lead, how can he expect his subordinates to follow?

With this mindset Ciel dressed and went downstairs to see what Sebastian, as a butler, was going to serve him for breakfast. He entered the dining room to find a strange assortment of dishes on the table. He peered at something green and leafy to discover that it was spinach.

The intern brightened up when he found a plate of croissants and jam. He pondered the presence of spinach as Sebastian walked in with the daily newspaper and placed it in front of him.

"Sebastian, what's with the spinach, poached salmon and the mint salad?" Ciel enquired harshly.

"According to my research it is what people had for breakfast in the Victorian Era, or at least, the nobles," Sebastian answered.

"Get rid of it. It is the 21st Century and Victoria is not the queen. If you are going to make these sorts of things, eat it yourself and don't bother serving it to me," Ciel ordered irritably.

"Yes, young master."

"Don't call me that," Ciel said as he opened the newspaper to read. "Are going to be dressing like a cosplayer for the whole week, or just today?"

Interestedly Sebastian observed how different Ciel was behaving now that he was on his own turf and had the power. He was normally a little meeker when they were alone together in his flat, but that could be attributed to the fact that they were the only two there, whereas here there was Tanaka, the faithful butler who clearly maim or murder Sebastian if he attempted anything too suggestive.

"For the whole week, unless you order me to wear something else or nothing at all," Sebastian ordered the intern who now had jam on his fingers from eating croissants spread with jam.

"Don't get your hopes up," was the unimpressed response.

Disappointed by the lack of response Sebastian decided to change tack. Ciel's hand caught his attention.

"Young master, could you please hold up one of your hands? I'm not going to handcuff you or anything like that," he promised.

"What are you intending to do with it?" Ciel enquired with a dangerous tone to his voice and made sure to keep his hand away from the pervert.

"I was going to remove the jam from your fingers with my mouth," the butler answered as if it was obvious. "You're getting the newspaper that you are reading sticky."

"Thank you for your concern, but my parents are not here so no one else is going to read it and I can get rid of jam myself."

To demonstrate Ciel picked up a napkin and wiped his fingers, "Now that you have ascertained that I am no longer covered in jam, go and tell Tanaka that I want my hot chocolate served in the library. Do not attempt to make it yourself, I am mistrustful of any drink that you serve me."

With this order Sebastian returned to the kitchen and found Tanaka sitting at the table drinking green tea out of a Japanese style teacup.

"The young master has finished his breakfast and would like hot chocolate made by you, served to him in the library."

Tanaka nodded and walked over to one of the kitchen cupboards to take out a catering sized pot of Cadbury hot chocolate powder and a bar of Cadbury dairy milk.

"Sebastian, could you please boil the kettle?"

The trainee butler obeyed and watched as Tanaka poured the boiling water into a mug, added 10 spoonfuls of powder and then half a bar of chocolate.

"Are you really adding solid chocolate to that?" Sebastian enquired.

"The young master has a vivacious appetite for anything sweet," Tanaka informed his trainee as he handed the hot mug to him. "Take this to the young master, then clear the table in the dining room. After that you are free until 3 o'clock."

In the library Ciel had a stack of BL novels belonging to his mother on the table and a notebook. He was trying to analyse the novels so he could understand Sebastian's mind better so he could outwit him until Alois started publishing the doujinshi.

Getting his hands on the books had been easy; he had asked Tanaka who had simply pointed him in the direction of his parent's bedroom- the books were on the bottom shelf of the bookshelf that his parents kept in there. The collection seemed to be complete and Ciel didn't know whether or not to congratulate his mother on being devoted enough to have every single book written by Sebastian Michaelis or be worried that he had a mother than enjoyed reading about boys having sex.

Ciel had achieved an A* in A Level Psychology and had always been the best in the class, but exam questions always had answers and as soon as he opened one of the books at random, he knew that it was going to be a challenge and it wasn't just because of the smut.

"Oh, have you become a fan?" a silky voice came from behind him.

"It's research," Ciel replied dryly, unconcerned that he had been caught.

Sebastian placed the mug of hot chocolate down next to the notebook and smirked at the stack of books. He was amused that Ciel had gone to this amount of trouble to understand how his mind worked.

"What is your opinion of the books that you have written?" Ciel decided that he might as well ask for Sebastian's opinion too as it would be informative.

"Not as good as they could be. I wrote my first one out of interest and I genuinely enjoyed it. On a whim I sent it to a publisher and it was eventually published and I became popular overnight," Sebastian replied thoughtfully. "But now I don't enjoy writing as much as I did. There are too many deadlines and my target market just seem to want smut and not actual love."

Intrigued, Ciel took notes. It seemed that over time Sebastian's personality had changed in order to keep up with his target market and sell books.

"Why do you still write if you don't enjoy it?"

The author pondered the answer for a moment. It was a very good question, one that he had never really asked himself.

"I suppose I don't need to write for the profit anymore, but I like to keep my hand in and I have become accustomed to writing the required amount of smut."

"Why don't you stop?" Ciel finally asked the key question.

Sebastian's eyes hardened and he clammed up. He had shown his vulnerable side unintentionally to someone that was determined to destroy him for revenge. But he had been lured in by the intern's trusting and innocent eyes...

That's right, the boy was just another intern.

He would cut him loose when he had finished with him. There was nothing more to their relationship.


	11. Kuroshitsuji and Black Butler

**Chapter 11:**

"That was very informative," Ciel said out loud and made a mental note to bring up the subject of retiring next time Sebastian got a little too close for comfort.

He took a sip of his hot chocolate and felt the caffeine kick in which gave him the confidence to pick up Sebastian's debut work and start reading.

One of Ciel's good qualities as a student had been that he could skim read very fast and still pick up important points. The writing was full of clever metaphors and unique similes and within the first 50 pages he couldn't spot any repeating patterns of words and phrases. He noted this down in his notebook and decided he would leave the rest of the book for later analysis.

Next, Ciel picked up Sebastian's latest work and found plenty to analyse as there was some form of a sex scene every 20 pages and there were a recurring use of certain adjectives. In addition he deduced that the intern that had preceded him at Funtom Publishing was a lanky ginger with an 'explosion of freckles on his face'. Ciel wondered what he had been described as. A midget? That was too simple, it had to be more eloquent. Then he decided that he probably didn't want to know exactly what Sebastian's thoughts on him were.

The intern stretched his arms and decided to adjourn to his bedroom where he could use his computer and attempt to hack into his father's employee records to see what was so secret about Sebastian. He had hacked the Funtom Publishing database before as he couldn't wait for the next book from his favourite author to be published fully so he had hacked in to view a draft.

Ciel pushed open his bedroom door to find Sebastian holding a pair of bright pink cat ears with a strange expression on his face. Ciel blinked to check if he was seeing properly.

Sebastian looked up to find Ciel staring at him. "Are these yours? When you dressed up as a cat at my flat you seemed to hate the idea, but now I think that you might have secretly enjoyed it," Sebastian smirked, having regained his usual teasing nature.

"What are you doing in my bedroom?" Ciel avoided the question because the answer was very hard to explain and the perverted author was almost certain to make some innuendo out of it.

"Tidying. Tanaka told me to."

The intern was not fooled by this lie due to the fact that Tanaka had strict instructions not to tidy Ciel's room as the last time he did he had accidently disposed of half of Ciel's exam revision notes, thinking they were scrap because they had been all over the floor.

"I'll accept your lie if you get out now."

"Not until you tell me what these cat ears are for. If I dig any deeper, will I find any other... mysterious items?"

"In your dreams," Ciel muttered. He wondered if all author were like this: in possession of an extremely perverted brain that related everything to sex. Being the CEO of Funtom Publishing was beginning to become less appealing, the more time that Ciel spent with Sebastian.

"Ciel, I will come over there and French kiss you if you don't tell me," Sebastian threatened and winked.

"You wouldn't go through with it," Ciel said with a touch of uncertainty in his voice. "I'll bite your tongue again."

This made the author remember the first time he tried anything on Ciel. The intern had been so wonderfully cute and shy in the cat outfit, but if the cat ears that he had found were any indication, someone else might have seen him like that which he didn't like one bit.

Ciel Phantomhive was his to play with. But to get an answer out of the stubborn boy he would have to change tactics.

"If you explain I will answer one question that you ask, truthfully and I will make your favourite cake for dessert this evening," he suggested hopefully. "In case you didn't know, I have an A* in Food Technology."

Ciel weighed up the benefits of cake and information against the cost of admitting that he had cross dressed as a girl more than once. The cake won.

"Fine," he scowled and tried to think of the most complex cake possible. "Make me a Patience Cake and explain exactly what your latest book series will be about and what your plans involving me are."

Sebastian knew vaguely what a Patience cake was, but he definitely had no idea how to make it or how long it would take. Damn, the boy certainly knew how to annoy him.

The author sat himself down on his intern's bed and patted the space next to him invitingly. Ciel ignored him and sat down on his black leather computer chair.

"Those cat ears belong to Alois. He wanted to do an Alice in Wonderland cosplay and he made all the costumes. I was supposed to be the Cheshire Cat."

Sebastian's eye twitched. He had guessed that the ears had been something to do with Alois Trancy. Then he picked up on the word "supposed".

Ciel nodded. "He bought the ears and I tried them on, but he said that the colour didn't suit me so I was recast."

"I agree, hot pink isn't your colour... Who were you recast as?"

This was what Ciel had been hoping Sebastian wouldn't ask.

"Alice," he murmured quietly.

Unfortunately for him Sebastian had sharp ears and heard the name of the character.

"Alice? So you were cross dressing as a girl? Can I see a photo?" the raven haired pervert asked hopefully.

Ciel glared at him. "I believe we had an agreement. What exactly is your latest series about? I feel that I have the right to know as you seem to be taking material from me."

"It's going to be set in the Victorian Era. The main character will be a teenage Earl who inherited his title after his parents died. He might wear an eye patch too, as according to market research eye patches are the next big thing," Sebastian explained.

Ciel raised his eyebrows elegantly. So far it sounded like the plot to a manga as opposed to a BL storyline. Maybe Sebastian was changing slightly... then he realised that the butler hadn't been mentioned which his fuelled his suspicions.

"What about the butler?"

"He will be contracted to serve his master for life and kill anyone that harms his master. Of course, he will also be a perfect butler."

That didn't sound at all suggestive to Ciel so he knew that the description was lacking something.

"Butlers don't and didn't work for free. What does the butler get in return?"

Sebastian smiled. "He gets to do whatever he want to his master, naturally."

Ciel slumped in his chair and face palmed. He had known it would be coming, but it still appalled him. He really didn't understand why that sort of thing was popular with females, he made a note to interrogate his mother when she got back from Paris. Females were an enigma to him.

"...Have you got a name for this series?"

"I was thinking of Black Butler or something similar," Sebastian answered thoughtfully.

"That sounds like a comic book or manga. I would choose a different name, but then again, I'm not your target audience. What exactly are you planning to do with me?"

Sebastian crossed one leg over the other. "Research... A relationship between a chaste teenage Earl and his perfect butler will be very complex to write so I need you for this."

Ciel sighed. It seemed that he was different to the other interns after all: Sebastian had been inspired to write a whole series using him as opposed to just one novel.

Sebastian correctly guessed what was going though Ciel's mind.

"Don't worry about missing me, I'm going to be around you until I get enough material for a whole series."

Ciel rolled his eyes before changing the subject. "Can I have your number? Just give me your phone and I will put mine in."

The intern didn't really want to give Sebastian his number, it was just a ruse. He would just block the number as soon as he got the chance.

With an amused glint in his eyes Sebastian handed over his mobile phone. Ciel accepted it and dug his own phone out his pocket. He tapped the screen of Sebastian's phone and was asked for a pass code.

"What's the code?" he asked.

"666," was the answer.

Ciel snorted. "How fitting."

Once he was in, he immediately found Sebastian's photo gallery and deleted all the photos that Sebastian had taken of him the previous day- all 50 of them from various angles. Ciel now knew which angle was his unflattering angle.

"I wouldn't bother deleting those, I also saved them onto my computer," Sebastian said having deduced Ciel's ulterior motive already. "I'm not going to use them to blackmail you,"

Damn, Ciel thought. Then he remembered that he had never seen any sign of a computer in Sebastian's flat. The desk which was normally the most likely surface to have a computer had just housed reams of paper and a pencil pot.

He needed to ask Sebastian where he kept his computer, but considering that the pervert had guessed his true motive for asking for his number, he would have to be more subtle.

"You're lying. I didn't see one at all when I was last in your flat. You don't really have a back up of those photos," Ciel scoffed.

"You really need to work on your acting," Sebastian muttered under his breath, but it would be best to let the boy think that he had the upper hand for now. Besides the contents of his computer would make Ciel freak out a little which would be amusing. "My laptop is beneath the sofa in the study. I keep it out of the way so I don't get distracted whilst I am working."

"I see. Could you possibly get out of my bedroom now," Ciel ordered Sebastian.

"Yes, Ciel," Sebastian replied and leaned down to give Ciel a kiss on the cheek before leaving the room.

Ciel's blood pressure moved up a few points in reaction to the kiss, but he calmed himself down by imagining the pervert being forced to spend the day with Grell who seemed to have more than a fleeting interest in the author.

After calming down he began to plan out his next move. He needed to gain entry to Sebastian's apartment and get hold of his laptop. He knew the hiding place now, he just needed a key to gain entry. After a moment on consideration he deducted that it was probably in the bedroom that Sebastian was currently using which was next to Tanaka's on the ground floor. In order not to get caught, he needed Sebastian to be occupied in another part of the house for a set amount of time.

Ciel drew out the key to his bedroom door out a drawer in his desk. It was normally never used, but he didn't want the pervert to keep visiting. He used the key to lock his bedroom door behind him.

Once he was in the kitchen downstairs, he ascertained that Sebastian was absent and spoke to Tanaka.

"Can you find a task that will occupy Sebastian for several hours this evening?"

Tanaka looked thoughtful for a second as he went through a mental inventory of tasks that needed to be done.

"I believe that the silver in the display cabinet in the hallway needs polishing."

"Perfect."

As Ciel turned to leave Tanaka tapped him on the shoulder.

"Please remember that breaking and entering is against the law and you could end up with a prison sentence in the worst case scenario."

Ciel flinched guilty before recovering. "It's only against the law if you get caught."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you look up Patience Cake you will find that is looks extremely complicated to make.


	12. Bestiality and Butlers

**Chapter 12:**

Dinner was excruciating for Ciel as he was itching to go and search Sebastian's flat again, properly this time, but he had to admit that the roast dinner had been cooked to perfection. Even Tanaka had the tendency to overcook the vegetables slightly and cook the meat for a little longer than necessary. The roast potatoes were perfectly crisp and Ciel sighed in contentment before remembering that it was Sebastian that had cooked the meal.

Dessert was the Patience cake that Ciel had ordered Sebastian to bake in a fit of spite because it was such a complex cake. The intern smirked as the butler brought the cake in on a cake stand.

"How long did it take you?" Ciel asked with an evil smirk.

"A minor three and a half hours, it would have been a lot faster if you hadn't removed all the electric whisks from the kitchen," Sebastian answered with a tight lipped smile and an arm that was sore from stirring cake mix by hand.

"They didn't have electric whisks in the Victorian Era... I was just trying to assist you in your research," Ciel said as he tried not to laugh.

Sebastian cut a slice of cake for his master using a knife and cake slice and put it on a patterned plate before placing it in front of Ciel. If the intern was going to have him bake cakes all week without an electric whisk, he would get Repetitive Strain Injury by the end of the week.

"I have decided," Sebastian announced. "The butler will be a demon, he can make cakes at a high speed... so can I have all the electric whisks back?"

The intern eyed the slice of cake critically, counting the number of layers and the number of layers that crisscrossed each other. Then he took a bite and decided that he might as well keep Sebastian in a moderately good mood as the texture and balance of flavours was perfect.

"You can have all the whisks back as, tomorrow I want a six tier cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream."

Inwardly Sebastian groaned. The boy was clearly planning to work him to the bone so he would be too tired to molest him.

Later that evening Ciel sat out on the landing listening so he would know when Tanaka had ordered Sebastian to start polishing. He would be able to hear as the hallway where the silver was kept, was directly below him. To pass the time he perused one of Sebastian's books which involved an unlikely relationship between two secondary school teachers.

When he heard Tanaka and Sebastian walk beneath him, discussing antique silver and the merits of different brands of polish he crept back across the landing, picked up his backpack and rushed down the back stairs which led directly to the servant's quarters. The structure of the house had remained unchanged since the house was built so all the routes that the servants took were still in place.

Ciel opened the door to Sebastian's bedroom to find that the room was almost devoid of personal belongings presumably because the author was trying to emulate a Victorian butler.

After some mental deduction Ciel calculated that the key to Sebastian's flat was most likely in the pocket of his outdoor coat which was probably hanging up in the wardrobe since he couldn't see it anywhere else in the room. He opened the wardrobe and searched through the pockets of the coat and felt a cold piece of metal.

The intern drew it out to see that it was indeed a key with a fluffy cat key ring attached to it. Ciel rolled his eyes before pocketing it and leaving the room.

He left the house by the back door in the kitchen which was far away from the hallway so his exit would not be heard.

* * *

Alois Trancy was settling down with a glass of Pimm's mixed with beer for an evening of working on Ciel's doujinshi when the doorbell rang.

He opened the door to find his best friend, who was dressed completely in black again, waiting outside. Alois' sharp eyes noted that he was breathing heavily.

"Why are you here?" he questioned.

"I don't have much time, can you accompany me whilst I search Sebastian's flat?" Ciel requested.

Alois blinked in surprise. Was his normally straight laced friend planning on breaking and entering?

"Ciel, I don't feel like being arrested today, it's counterproductive."

His best friend held up a key. "I have the owner's key so we are now on the grey side of the law."

"You should have mentioned that first," Alois said amusedly."I'll accompany you, but it's still against the law since you clearly took that key without the owner's consent."

Once they were inside the apartment Ciel flicked on the lights so he could see properly instead of just shadowy silhouettes from the moonlight. Alois took in the details of the surroundings and raised his eyebrows.

"Why does he have so much money from writing smut? I know this is the same size and layout as my flat, but there is an expensive air to this place...why is there a chandelier here?" Alois asked as he looked up at the ceiling which was unusually high considering it was an apartment.

Ciel followed his gaze and realised that he had never taken into account his short height when he had first searched the flat. He hadn't checked anything above his eyelevel and he had never looked up.

His reverie was interrupted when Alois decided to bluntly ask:

"Which room has the bondage collection?"

"Down the hallway... why?"

"I need reference photos for our doujinshi, it's not for personal enjoyment," the blond answered with a grin, "I'll go take some photos whilst you look through his computer. If you feel uncomfortable looking through his video and image collection, just tell me."

Ciel nodded and walked into the study and got down on his knees to stick his hand under the sofa. His hand came into contact with something flat and he pulled out the laptop and the attached power cable.

The intern flipped open the laptop and pressed the power button which did nothing so he plugged the power lead into a socket and switched the power button again which worked. As the computer was loading Ciel pulled out a disc from its jewel case which contained a program from one of his father's contacts who was a computer hacker. Ciel had brought the disc with him as he knew there was no chance that Sebastian's password was anything simple like 'password' or the name of his favourite cat. The man was certainly one hell of a pervert, but he definitely was not an idiot.

The log in screen appeared and Ciel placed the disc in the drive and waited for it to take effect.

When Alois returned with photos of the cat costume Ciel had finished going through Sebastian's documents which were just story ideas and a few drafts and was going through Sebastian's image collection. The first folder had a very large file size and was labelled 'cats'. Ciel clicked on it and found that all the subfolders were also named. It seemed that author spent a lot of his time taking photos of all of his cats.

"I bet we'll find out soon that Sebastian isn't really interested in you, it's just a cover- he really likes cats. I wonder how his fans feel about Bestiality," Alois commented as he looked over Ciel's shoulder. "I think we should add that to our doujinshi."

"It's certainly gross enough," Ciel said distractedly as he had found a folder labelled with his name. "Where on earth did he get all these photos from?"

There were photos of him as a baby, young child, at his 18th Birthday, at presentation evening from when he left college and a few from when he attended Ascot.

Alois leaned closer. "Some of those are from magazines- I recognise that one of you at your 18th Birthday- there was a photographer from a society magazine there."

The future Earl enlarged one of the older photos as he had a feeling that he had seen the image before. It was from a newspaper and he remembered that the article accompanying the photo had been about the kidnapping attempt that had taken place when he was 10. His parents had forbidden him from reading newspapers for about a year after the kidnapping and he had found the article many years later when he had googled his own name.

This meant that Sebastian knew about Ciel's attempted kidnap which had given the boy a fear of being touched by strangers or people that he didn't trust. It hadn't changed the author's perverted attitude towards him which probably meant that he didn't care.

As Ciel was wondering about this Alois swiped the laptop from him as he had spotted something that was bound to traumatise his friend.

"I'll finish this off for you. I really don't want to see you traumatised by anything you see on here."

"Have you found anything yet?" Ciel asked 10 minutes later as he rifled through Sebastian's desk drawers.

His best friend flinched and Ciel knew that the blonde had found something compromising.

"Alois, what did you find?"

"You didn't check if he had files stored on external drives," Alois informed him. "He's written a few drafts for the new book series starring you and the butler which is a self insert of him. He's even incorporated your attempted kidnapping into it and he seems to be having a lot of fantasies involving you."

Ciel paused in the act of tidying up Sebastian's paperclip collection and his blood flow and heartbeat increased rapidly and he felt like he was going to throw up or faint. He clenched his fist until his knuckles became white.

"I'm going to kill him," he said threateningly.

"Ciel, I think you should calm down and have a serious talk with him instead of threatening to kill him," Alois advised. "You might get better results that way."

The butler in question sneezed at the same time he was being discussed and he smirked as he polished a silver teapot. If his assumptions were correct Ciel was going to want to have a serious conversation with him soon on the subject of his latest book series. He also had a proposal that he was planning to bring up during the conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone doesn't know what Bestiality is, I would suggest looking it up in a dictionary and not googling it.


	13. Trust and Manipulation

**Chapter 13**

"I knew you would come back and talk to me," Sebastian said as he poured out a measure of Chamomile tea into a delicately patterned fine bone china tea cup and handed it to his master who was currently sitting in bed glaring fiercely at him.

"Stop bragging," Ciel said half heartedly and took a sip of tea.

The butler smirked, poured out a cup for himself and sat down on Ciel's bed, making sure to avoid sitting on his master's legs.

"Incidentally, may I have my front door key back?"

Ciel dug it out of his pocket and threw it to the author who caught it perfectly.

"What do you know about my kidnapping?" Ciel began, after a few minutes of silence which had been filled with the sounds of sipping tea.

"Not a lot. All the news reports that I found just stated that you had been rescued and the kidnappers, who were known to the family, were taken into custody and are serving a life sentence is prison as you were 10 at the time and the law is harsh against child related crimes. What really happened?"

Ciel absorbed his words thoughtfully. Sebastian's description matched what he had read.

"I don't actually know what happened. I assumed you knew more than I did," Ciel answered disappointingly.

Sebastian blinked in surprise. "I thought you would know more, you were old enough and it was only 9 years ago so you can't have forgotten."

Ciel sighed. "I don't remember a thing. I only know what I found when I put my name into a search engine a couple of years ago."

Sebastian nodded. "I see now, your brain must be trying to protect you as the memories were obviously traumatising."

"I'm only bringing this up because I thought you might know more than me. I would like some closure, as whenever I try to remember I feel weak like I am going to throw up or faint. I also really don't like been touched by people I don't know or trust."

The author's eyes widened. Since Ciel had become an intern, he had French kissed him, licked cream of him and had kissed him on several occasions which probably hadn't been too pleasant for the intern, considering his past history.

"I'm sorry Ciel, for touching you inappropriately," he apologised sincerely. "I didn't know you had a fear."

Ciel considered how he had felt when Sebastian had made contact with him. For some reason his phobia hadn't flared up like it normally did. Naturally he had been annoyed with the author, but he hadn't felt scared like when people grabbed him in the crowded streets to stop him from getting knocked over.

"I think that I might be okay with you touching me," Ciel said slowly. "Just don't get too excited," he added cautiously.

Sebastian couldn't help but smile despite the seriousness of the situation. Ciel didn't hate him as much as he thought he did.

"Do you know any suspects?" he questioned hopefully.

Ciel shook his head. "I asked my parents about it, but they both said that they would tell me when I turn 21. I didn't ask Tanaka as I knew he would say the same," he paused thoughtfully. "I do have an idea though. We used to have another servant here, a cook named Hannah Anafeloz. She used to sneak me desserts at all of my parents' dinner parties. She mysteriously disappeared when I was 10 which might be connected."

The butler frowned. The name did seem to be slightly familiar and he had wondered why Tanaka was the only servant in the household.

"I think she must be connected if your parents have never hired any servants since her. But she probably isn't the kidnapper as females generally do not kidnap little boys, or at least not without good reason and her criminal record must have been clean when she was hired. She probably just gave the kidnapper information about the household."

"That is a point," Ciel conceded. "Since the name of the people involved are not mentioned, I think it had to be someone influential that worked for Funtom Publishing. I'm sure that Hannah's name would have been released as she was only a servant."

Sebastian took Ciel's empty cup and refilled it before handing it back.

"I agree. Following that theory, it must mean that an author was involved because again, the name of an employee would have been released as the public wouldn't have really cared. If it had been a well known author it would be a different story."

"Hmm, I think you're right about that," Ciel agreed. "To narrow it down it has to be an author who hasn't written anything in the past 9 years... Do you have any ideas, Sebastian? After all, you are an author."

Sebastian was surprised that Ciel actually directly asked for his input which showed that he did have some faith in him. To keep hold of the tenuous trust, the author strained his memory back to 9 years ago and all the authors he had met.

"9 years ago is around about when I joined Funtom Publishing and when I met you which must have been after the kidnapping. All the other authors that I met are still writing and publishing, like Grell's beloved Will. Wait," he paused. "There is an author that I never met, but I read his books and the material made my skin crawl. Ciel, if you think that I am perverted, he makes me look like an angel."

"What did he write about?" Ciel asked, but deep down he already knew the answer.

For once Sebastian was ashamed of his profession and the fact that he earned money writing about boys having sex.

"Paedophilia and he seemed to specialise in young boys. His descriptions were very graphic."

Ciel flinched and he began to get a nauseous feeling in his stomach again. "Why me? I'm the CEO's son and he would have known that if Hannah was his accomplice."

"You did look very adorable and cute when you were younger..." Sebastian said vaguely as he considered motives. It was in the tip of his tongue when he realised what the motive probably was and he stopped himself from saying it. He didn't want to tell Ciel as the intern would never want to speak to him again.

"I...I think I know why," he said haltingly.

Ciel eyed him suspiciously. "Spit it out if you know. We will never get anywhere if you withhold important information."

It was the use of the word 'we' that saddened Sebastian the most, once he told Ciel, whatever relationship they had built up would be destroyed forever.

"The descriptions in his book were so detailed it was disturbing and I think I can guess why they were so realistic..."

Ciel's eyes widened as the truth dawned on him. The unknown author who had kidnapped him had been like Sebastian, perverted and sadistic. He shot Sebastian, who now looked apologetic, a cold look that could have frozen hot chocolate.

"What was his name?"

"Before I tell you, I want to apologise for what I did in the past and for what I did to you. If I had known all of these details beforehand, I would have never tried anything," Sebastian apologised and stood up to leave the room. "The author's name was Claude Faustus."

A choking noise from Ciel made him turn back. The boy's face had a deathly pallor and he was shaking uncontrollably in fear in reaction to the name. Sebastian hoped that Ciel hadn't regained any memories which would be sure to turn him against him even more.

Sebastian rushed over to help him anyway, he couldn't leave his favourite intern alone to suffer.

"Ciel, are you all right? Did you remember something?"

Slowly, a pair of deep blue cerulean eyes focused on him.

"Sebastian?" Ciel blinked a few times before regaining his usual composure. "No, I didn't regain any memories regarding 'that', but I remembered something in connection. I can recall meeting that odious author before. He was introduced as Hannah Anafeloz's fiancée. I remember now... for some reason he kept staring at me and licking his lips."

Ciel began to shake again and made Sebastian feel even more guilt about his past deeds. He laid a comforting hand on Ciel's shoulder.

"It's all right, it was a number of years ago and he is safely locked away in prison. You can live a normal life."

Normally Ciel would have smacked Sebastian's hand away, but today it felt strangely comforting.

"I can't continue if I keep feeling weak whenever I think about it- I don't have any memories of it and I don't know what exactly happened. Was I rescued as I was being kidnapped or was I found after? If I remembered I'm sure I would be even more of a mess than I am now."

Ciel ran an agitated hand through his hair, messing it up so it hid his eyes. Sebastian sighed and brushed back Ciel's hair with his fingers so he could see the intern's face properly. He took hold of the boy's hands.

"Ciel, calm down. Don't try to remember what happened. We shall ask someone who knows exactly what happened, so we can establish whether or not it would be a good thing to remember or not."

"I suppose so," Ciel said doubtfully, but he know felt a lot calmer and his erratic heartbeat had slowed down.

"Who knows the truth besides your parents?"

"Tanaka would know, but he is devoted to the Phantomhive family so he won't tell me for fear of the effect it would have on my well being."

Ciel paused. After Tanaka, Aunt Frances and Angeline would be the most likely to know, however they probably wouldn't tell him either as they had presumably been sworn to secrecy. He might be able to worm it out of Aunt Angeline since she was quite fond of him and she was also a doctor so she would be able to explain the amnesia, but again she wouldn't tell him for the sake of his mental health and he wasn't sure that he wanted Sebastian to meet her yet.

Then it came to him. Lizzie. As she was a close relation and his fiancée she would be bound to know and more willing to tell him since he had always been good at persuading her. If need be he would always soften her up with a present, preferably pink and lacy.

Thinking about Lizzie reminded him of the plan that he had concocted to get revenge on Sebastian. He glanced at the author and down at their intertwined hands again.

The pervert was the lesser evil at the moment. Ciel wanted answers about his kidnapping and Sebastian seemed to be helping him for the moment and he had given him a sincere apology which could be a sign that his personality was changing.

Ciel made his mind. He would concentrate on finding out exactly what happened to him 9 years ago, then he would focus on getting revenge against Sebastian, unless the author completely changed his personality and stopped inappropriately touching him.

"I know someone who could be persuaded to tell me," Ciel said eventually.

"That's good," Sebastian answered and released one of Ciel's hands to check the time on his pocket watch. "It's nearly midnight now so you should go to sleep now. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow."

He let go of Ciel's other hand and turned off the light, plunging the room into darkness. Almost immediately Ciel made a distressed noise.

"Is something wrong?" Sebastian asked concernedly.

"Can you stay with me?" Ciel requested hesitantly. "I feel afraid of being left alone."

"I thought you didn't trust me," the butler said amusedly.

"Shut up. You've behaved today so I like you, very slightly. Don't get any ideas though. I don't want you to get into bed with me."

"I will stay with you as you asked and it's the only nice thing that you have asked me to do and I feel guilty as I have used the same methods as Claude Faustus to write my books," Sebastian answered and switched on the bedside lamp so the room was dimly lit.

Ciel pulled his pillow down from where he had been sitting against it and lay down. "Stop apologising so much, it makes me suspicious since it's so out of character for you and using those methods has never bothered you before."

"Just go to sleep and you can vent at me in the morning."

The author picked up one of the chairs in Ciel's bedroom and placed it by the bed so he could stay next to Ciel who seemed to be quite trusting of him for the time being, possibly because Sebastian hadn't been the one to kidnap him as a child and cause him to lose his memories.

Allowing the boy to hack into his computer and read his preliminary book drafts had been very beneficial.


	14. Straight of Grain and Bias

**Chapter 14:**

Vincent Phantomhive watched the sun rise over the streets of Paris from the window of his office. As soon as the show had finished he sat back down and opened an envelope that his secretary had left on his desk the night before.

The envelope contained photos of his son that had been taken over the course of the past week and half since he had started his internship at Funtom Publishing.

The most interesting and significant ones were of his son visiting the block of flats where the author Sebastian Michaelis lived. Some were in the daytime on Sunday and the other were taken late at night from the day before. In the photo taken as he was leaving the building, Ciel's face was deathly pale as if he had seen something traumatising.

"Breaking and entering, Ciel," he said softly. "How minor for your first crime."

Although he was very sure that his son had hacked into the Funtom Publishing computer system before to obtain copies of authors' works before they were officially published. The thought of this reminded him that he needed to make sure that his son didn't hack in anytime soon.

He reached out and dialled the number of his house in England. His butler picked up after two rings.

"Tanaka, it's me."

"Good morning, master Vincent," Tanaka greeted. "What would you like me to do?"

"Tell Ciel that if he hacks in again, I will freeze his bank accounts. He will know what I am talking about."

"I will inform him when he comes down for breakfast," Tanaka promised.

"How is Sebastian doing?" Vincent enquired interestedly. "I'm sure that being a Phantomhive butler is hard work."

"He is a fast learner and he seems to have done a lot of research already. That said, the young master had been deliberately tiring him out."

"What has he been demanding?" Vincent asked knowingly.

"He ordered Mr. Michaelis to make a Patience Cake, but before Sebastian even got to the kitchen, the young master took away all of the electric whisks and Mr Michaelis had to whisk by hand for three hours."

The Earl laughed out loud. His son could be amusingly petty. "What is Sebastian doing right now?"

"He should be sleeping as we are one hour behind in England. He doesn't have to get up until 7 o'clock."

"That is kind of you Tanaka. I have to go now. Just remember that it is a vital time right now and to keep a close eye on the pair of them."

* * *

Sebastian awoke slowly and a pain in his back and neck began to make itself apparent. He opened his eyes to find his head was lying on a familiar light blue duvet cover that belonged to Ciel Phantomhive.

He lifted his head up and saw that it was indeed Ciel's bed that he was half lying on and the intern was sleeping with the duvet bunched up around his head and his hair was splayed across his face.

Sebastian smiled and brushed some of the hair off his face. Ciel looked very adorable when he was asleep as his face and body were relaxed. As he touched Ciel's cheek the boy made a purring sound, causing Sebastian to smile even more.

Then he looked down at himself and remembered that he was wearing the same clothes that he had been wearing the day before. In order not to get caught by Tanaka he would have to return to his bedroom, shower, change clothes as well as not look like he had a crick in his neck. He drew out his pocket watch and saw that he would have to hurry.

Sebastian leaned over and stroked Ciel's cheek to make him purr again, before standing up and leaving the room. As he rushed down the back stairs he wondered what their relationship would have been if he hadn't dressed Ciel up as a cat and tried to molest him. It would be very different and peaceful, but again it would be uneventful as Ciel wouldn't be constantly trying to find ways to get revenge on him.

Ciel was stirred by the sound of his bedroom door opening and someone who was carrying something walking in. He cracked open an eyelid to watch Sebastian walk towards him with a tray in his hands.

"Good morning, Ciel," he said brightly. "I've made you some chocolate laden Hot Chocolate."

"...Why are you so chirpy this morning? And why am I no longer 'young master'?"

Sebastian deposited the tray on Ciel's bedside table and passed the mug to him once the boy had sat up.

"The answers to both questions are that we are no longer butler and master, we are-"

"-Casual acquaintances that are working together because the pervert author of the duo is finally feeling guilty about his past deeds and wants to repent," Ciel interjected before Sebastian could finish his sentence.

Sebastian shrugged. "That will do. I will be promoted one day. Now, casual acquaintances or not, are you going to see the person that you were planning to ask about your kidnapping?"

Ciel considered it as he took a cautious sip of his Hot Chocolate which had just the right amount of chocolate in. He wanted to know what had really happened, but he also didn't because he knew whatever Lizzie told him was going to change his life.

"I will, but I don't want you to come with me... I will tell you everything later," Ciel said slowly after coming to a decision.

Sebastian nodded understandingly. There wasn't that much trust between them yet.

"Who is your informant?"

"My cousin, Lady Elizabeth Midford. She is the person that is the most likely to know and tell me," Ciel answered, neglecting to mention that she was also his fiancé. "By the way, do you mind making some macaroons, she goes crazy for ones that actually taste nice. However, I still want my Rainbow Cake when I get back."

"With Swiss Meringue Buttercream? I will start immediately and I'm assuming that all of the electric whisks have been returned."

Ciel nodded. "I need to arrange a time with Lizzie first. She is taking a gap year before starting university next year, but she is very hard to pin down."

Fortunately Elizabeth was available and a couple of hours later Ciel was walking though the Midfords' house to meet her, carrying the bright pink macaroons that Sebastian had baked. He poked his head into the sitting room to find her frowning over a pile of pink fabric and assorted pattern pieces. Sebastian was waiting outside for him in the car.

"Lizzie, what on earth are you doing?" he enquired, noting the mess on the floor.

Lizzie sprang up and threw her arms around him. "Ciel! I haven't seen you for months," she squealed ecstatically. "I'm trying to make a Lolita dress using a pattern, but nothing is making sense. What do all the instructions mean?"

Without thinking too hard, it was more automatic, Ciel laid her fabric out and pinned the necessary paper pattern pieces onto the fabric based on the location of the straight of grain. Being friends with an aspiring fashion designer had made him fairly expert at using simple sewing patterns as he had been Alois' revision buddy during his Textiles exam days.

"Now, cut them out and cut two more of that pattern piece out of fusible interfacing," he instructed as he sat back down into an armchair.

"Thanks, Ciel," she said happily before dropping her cute persona and becoming more serious. "I will cut them out tomorrow." She sat down opposite him. "It's rare for you to come and see me, is there anything wrong? After all it's a weekday and you should be at Funtom Publishing."

Her fiancée twiddled his fingers nervously. "Lizzie, what do you know about my kidnapping 9 years ago?"

Lizzie flinched and Ciel immediately discerned that she knew everything.

"Why do you want to know now? You will be told when you turn 21."

"Elizabeth, I'm 19- I'm legally an adult. I have a right to know exactly what happened. I can always go to the Police and look through the reports."

"No!" Lizzie screamed, afraid that he actually would. "I will tell you, just don't go to the Police."

"Thank you Lizzie, by the way I have some homemade macaroons for you, they are pink," Ciel said and passed the bag to her to soften her up a little more.

She didn't even look at them. Her fiancé's well being took precedence over pink macaroons.

"Ciel, what I am about to tell you may be very traumatising for you, it was bad enough being told by my mother. I remember waiting by the phone for news from your parents. Your father even got some of his more criminal acquaintances to look for you and Mum was worried for your safety too."

Ciel nodded and wondered how she would broach the subject. "Who kidnapped me?" he decided to start her off as she seemed to be hesitant.

Elizabeth took a deep breath. "Hannah Anafeloz who worked as the family cook, was babysitting you one day and she let your kidnapper in. He was her fiancée and his name was Claude Faustus. He had taken a liking to you and she was devoted to him."

Ciel drew his hands into fists and carefully kept his breathing at a steady pace.

"Why did she help him?"

"Because he only used people to write his books and he always went back to her after writing a book, but he mainly wrote books about Paedophilia. I have never read any of his books, if I did I would feel the need even more than I already do, to mutilate him and kill him," Lizzie explained with a hard line to her jaw which completely contrasted with her pink headband which was decorated with rabbits.

"What happened after she let him in?"

"You were chloroformed and taken away by car. He and Hannah travelled separately to confuse any pursuers. Tanaka arrived back from shopping fifteen minutes later to find the house empty and a cloth that smelled of chloroform on the hallway floor."

Ciel let out the breath that he had been holding and tried to look calm as Lizzie was looking at him suspiciously.

His fiancée glanced at him and looked out of the window momentarily as she was very hesitant to continue for the fear of what the information would do to Ciel.

"Ciel, are you sure you want me to continue? It isn't a pleasant story."

"Please continue, I don't remember a thing so it isn't likely to bring back any traumatising memories. I seem to have a mental block on it."

"All right," Lizzie sighed. "As soon as he realised that you had disappeared, Tanaka called the Police and your parents who called us. There was confusion for about half an hour as we all assumed that Hannah had been kidnapped along with you. Then Tanaka recalled that he had seen Claude Faustus staring at you in an unhealthy manner which sped events up because Faustus had taken you to his house. Your father's underworld contacts got there first and surrounded the house and then the Police and your parents arrived and rescued you."

"So I was rescued very soon after. That's a relief," Ciel said, but he wondered why he always felt so terrified whenever he tried to remember anything.

"Yes," Lizzie agreed. "It was such a relief to know that you were found before anything else happened. Vincent would have murdered him on the spot if he had. It was undeniable that Faustus wanted something more that he didn't get to do."

Ciel felt very nauseas. Whilst it was reassuring to hear that he had been rescued before anything worse could happen, it was still traumatic to know that the intention had been there and it could have happened.

Black spots began to blight Ciel's vision and then the world disappeared as he fell unconscious.


	15. Cuts and Cake

**Chapter 15:**

"...Ciel! Can you hear me?" a man's voice fraught with concern tried to permeate Ciel's unconscious mind.

"Ciel!" it tried again.

A cold cloth was pressed to his forehead and only then did he begin to stir.

Sebastian's face was right above him as he opened his eyes and groaned. The author's hands pushed him down when he tried to sit up.

"Don't sit up yet, Ciel," Sebastian said with a protective look in his eyes.

"What happened?"

"You fainted at your cousin's house as she told you about your kidnapping."

The mention of his kidnapping caused everything to come back in a flash and Ciel wanted to faint again.

"For fuck's sake, talk about something else so I don't think about it," Ciel ordered harshly.

His reaction confirmed Sebastian's half formed suspicion about what could have happened nine years ago and he wanted to hug the boy who was looking very fragile and weak, but he knew now wasn't the time.

He changed the subject to distract him and stated the obvious about Elizabeth Midford.

"Your cousin is very...pink."

"I know."

"But she seems to be very concerned about you. You are lucky to have a relation like her. She is currently making some tea for you."

"Why are you here?" Ciel asked interestedly. "You were supposed to wait outside in the car."

Sebastian settled for holding Ciel's hand to comfort him. "I had a feeling that I should be with you and when I came in you were slumped on the floor and your cousin was in hysterics thinking that she had killed you."

Ciel could picture that well. "Can I sit up now?"

"Yes, but do it slowly," Sebastian said and held out his hand to help Ciel who was still looking very pale. "Actually, I'll make it easier." He scooped Ciel into his arms and sat him down on the sofa before sitting down next to him.

"I'm not that weak," the blue haired teenager muttered sulkily.

As the author opened his mouth to formulate a teasing reply, Elizabeth Midford walked into the room carrying a cup of tea for Ciel and a plate of Sebastian's bright pink macaroons.

"Your macaroons taste just like the ones that I have eaten in France, Mr Michaelis," Lizzie complimented as she handed Ciel the teacup.

"Call me Sebastian, Lady Elizabeth," Sebastian said and flashed her a hollow smile, sensing that she was very caring towards Ciel, but the look in her eyes seemed to be warning him off.

Ciel ignored the tension and sipped his tea which seemed to be English Breakfast tea with lots of milk and sugar- something that he needed after passing out.

"Ciel, if it makes you feel any better, Claude Faustus has a life sentence and is definitely never getting out of prison. Your father used some of his contacts in law enforcement and arranged for him to be sent to one of the toughest prisons in America. The last thing I heard, he isn't very popular with the inmates..." Lizzie explained in attempt to make Ciel feel better. "Hannah Anafeloz also has a life sentence, but in this country."

The mention of Claude Faustus' name caused Sebastian to flinch. His suspicions had been correct. Ciel sighed in relief, his kidnapper was never coming back to haunt him again. However he still couldn't remember anything, no memories or fragments of memories had come back to him. It was almost as if there was a hole in his memories.

"Why can't I remember anything? Even if it was something that my brain had repressed, the memories should come back."

Lizzie swallowed the last of her macaroon before explaining. "As far I know, you were unconscious the entire time so you wouldn't have been aware of anything strange. You were very sleepy for a few days after and we never told you anything was amiss. You were told Hannah had 'left' and Tanaka took on her duties. We all agreed to never tell you anything until you turned 21."

Tears threatened to escape from her red rimmed eyes so Ciel got up and patted her head tenderly like he used to do when they played together as children.

"It's all right, Lizzie, I understand why you didn't want to tell me. If anyone asks, I bullied you into it," he said and sat down next to her. "Thanks for the tea."

His fiancé wiped her eyes with a tissue. "I used the teabags that we use for supplying the workmen with tea and I added lots of sugar- I know you like sweet things."

Sebastian frowned as he watched the exchange between the cousins. They did seem to be very close and Ciel had a soft look in his eyes which he had never seen the boy have before. Also, the intern had moved away from him which possibly indicated that Ciel was trying to unconsciously distance himself from him which he didn't like one bit.

"How's Alois?" Lizzie asked conversationally, ignoring Sebastian completely. "He is at London College of Fashion, isn't he?"

"He is doing fine, he has even designed a range of outfits which are Victorian inspired," Ciel informed her as he began to relax after the shock of the truth behind his kidnapping.

"Ooh, do you think he can give me any of the dresses when he has finished with them?" Lizzie asked hopefully. "If he won't, remind him that I am still practising fencing and if he ever has to go to hospital, it will automatically be the one that Aunt Angeline works at."

Ciel smiled. "I will ask him."

The mention of fencing and Aunt Angeline caused his plan for revenge against Sebastian to resurface in his mind. Should he continue or not? He had found out the truth of his kidnapping and since last night, the author hadn't tried anything on him and for the moment, he was being likeable. He glanced over at Sebastian who was staring at him intently and he flushed involuntarily under the author's intense gaze.

He came to a decision. He would trust Sebastian for now and withhold the publishing of the doujinshi and if the author ever attempted anything too perverted, all hell would break loose on the internet.

Sebastian's watchful gaze noticed Ciel's blush and he inwardly smirked. If he didn't want to lose the trust between them, he would have to keep his perverted thoughts to himself. In addition he was a little suspicious of the relationship between Ciel Phantomhive and Elizabeth Midford. They did seem to be unusually close for cousins. He turned his head and caught sight of a book lying on one of the sofas, tucked in between the cushions. He recognised the book in question immediately as it was one that he had written.

"Who is the BL fan in the family?" he enquired and pointed.

The cousins stopped talking and followed his pointing finger. Lizzie stood up and picked the book up. Ciel instantly paled when he recognised Sebastian's pseudonym. Either Lizzie or her mother were BL fans which definitely did not benefit his original plan.

"...Is that book yours, Lizzie?" he asked quietly as he sensed that the author was enjoying his discomfort.

Lizzie shook her head. "It's not mine, it's the maid's. She has a habit of leaving her BL books out, I think she is trying to convert Mum into a fan- it's not working by the way."

Ciel snorted. "I'm thankful that your mother has remained impervious to the... charms of BL."

Sebastian raised an eyebrow. More camaraderie for him to watch. He was about to suggest that he and Ciel return home, but Elizabeth Midford's next words starved his mouth of oxygen.

"Ah, Ciel! Mum said to remind you that we can't get married until we have both finished university degrees. So, in five years' time then?"

There was a choking noise from Sebastian and Ciel met his gaze to find that the author looked very surprised as well as angry and his gloved hands were balled into fists. The blonde girl turned to Sebastian to drive her point home further.

"Didn't you know? Ciel and I have been engaged since we are children."

Abruptly Sebastian stood up. "I think that the young master and I should return home in time for lunch. He has had a big shock today and he will recover best in the comfort of his own home," he said and pulled Ciel up before half dragging him out the room.

Lizzie started after them for a minute before recovering and watching their car drive away.

"Mr Michaelis seems to have a thing for my cute fiancé," she said to herself. "It won't end well."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. There was an important call that she needed to make before she even began to contemplate whether or not her fiancé returned his butler's feelings.

* * *

"What is wrong with you?" the intern demanded as soon as Sebastian pulled up in the drive of his house.

Throughout the whole journey Sebastian's hadn't said a word. There had been no flirty comments or jokes or reassurances about what he had found out, which was unusual. The author was never normally quiet- he always seemed to have something to say.

Sebastian pulled the handbrake before turning off the ignition. He turned to Ciel and placed his hands on either side of his face.

"I don't think you should marry her," he stated simply.

Ciel's eyes narrowed. "Who are you to tell me what to do?" he demanded.

"You can't love her that much if you blush like you do when you look at me."

"That is not a logical argument," Ciel said coldly. He was starting to hate him again.

Sebastian's hands reached out to pull him closer and Ciel moved away to avoid being touched.

"I think we would better together. Tell her that you can't marry her anymore."

His breath wafted over Ciel as he leaned in closer towards his lips. That action made Ciel rapidly make up his mind.

"I am not changing my life at the whim of a pervert!" Ciel shouted as he got out the car and slammed the door.

Sebastian watched him stalk up the driveway and let himself into his house. Then he put his head into his hands.

"Why did I do that?"


	16. Psychology and Physcos

**Chapter 16:**

"Bloody pervert," Ciel cursed as he strode past Tanaka who was standing in the hallway by the telephone.

"Young mas-"

"Not right now," the furious intern snapped as he stomped up the stairs.

Tanaka stared after him and wondered why his face had been so thunderous.

Once he was in his bedroom Ciel locked the door and drew the curtains so that the light was dim. He pulled out his dartboard from a drawer in his desk, reinstated Sebastian's photo as the target and used it vindictively as target practise, listening with satisfaction to the hollow metallic thunks of the darts hitting their targets.

By the time that he had calmed down the photo was in tatters and drifted to the ground when Ciel pulled the last dart out. He watched it float onto the carpet before stepping on it.

"It's back to square one. Luckily I kept my options," he said out loud.

With impeccable timing his phone rang and he glanced at the screen to see that it was Alois.

"Ciel!" Alois greeted happily. "How are you?"

"I am ready to do everything, but kill Sebastian. Killing him would be too nice."

"...Well, you will be glad to hear that I have finished the first chapter of our doujinshi and uploaded it. There are 30 comments so far," Alois said as he sensed that Ciel was very annoyed with the perverted author.

"What do they say?" Ciel enquired interestedly. He hoped there were some complaints about what a pervert Sebastian was.

There was a clicking noise in the background and the sound of Alois swearing.

"Um, Ciel, the comments are all from girls and are variants of Kyaah, the author is so hot/ dominant/ sexy'... Oh, there's one saying 'the intern looks so cute with cat ears- I want to take him home'. That one is from a girl too."

A dead silence met his words and after a minute he heard a dart whizzing through the air.

Alois hastened to placate his angry best friend. "It's only been on the internet for an hour so it's early days. Also, I can never quite understand that side of females either. I sent you a link." He breathed a sigh of relief when Ciel replied instead of throwing another dart.

"You're right. The tide can be turned. After all most comments on websites reiterate what the comment below them says. Sometimes people are led without them realising."

"So if I get a notification of a comment saying something like 'That author is such a fucking pervert- stab him with pitchforks!' I shall know it is you."

"Correct."

"Ciel, what did he do? You haven't been this angry since the first time you met him."

The intern informed him of the incident in the car which confused and enlightened his best friend.

"The relationship between you and Lizzie does look strange to an outsider- I found it weird at first. But the Midfords and Phantomhives are quite old families so it made sense later."

Ciel paused. As usual Alois was right. His closeness with Lizzie would look strange to someone that didn't come from an old family. His annoyance must be something to do with the trust that he had started to have in the author which was now shattered.

"He helped me find out about the events of the kidnapping and he comforted me when I was scared. I think I must have began to trust and rely on him a little."

"Was it bad news about your kidnapping?" Alois asked worriedly whilst pondering why Ciel was having such an extreme reaction to Sebastian now.

Ciel told him everything that he had been told by Lizzie and by the end of it Alois was furious.

"That fucking Paedophile! If he was in this country I would castrate him right now- I can't afford a trip to America," he shouted angrily. "I hate people like him. He makes Sebastian look like a role model for authors."

Ciel snorted, but he now felt better about it.

"By any chance, did Sebastian say anything about him being better for you before he tried to snog you?"

Ciel thought back."...Yes he did. How did you know?"

"Your cousin is appeared to be too overprotective at first and her love of cute things does make her seem dumb to outsiders. Did she kiss or hug you at all?"

"No, but she mentioned our wedding."

"He must have felt betrayed- you never mentioned that you had a fiancée so to find out when he was starting to make progress with you was his breaking point," Alois explained.

"I think you should have the A* in Psychology instead of me," the intern remarked wryly.

"I should. It was too bad I never felt like worshipping Freud. Now, do you still feel annoyed with Sebastian?" the blonde asked. He had to calm Ciel down before he did something that he might regret in the future.

"Yes, but not so much now as you have explained his reasons," Ciel answered after weighing up his feelings.

"That's good. Are you going to talk about it with him now?"

"Maybe," Ciel said and ended the call.

He walked over to his computer and switched it on. As promised there was an email from Alois in his inbox providing a link to his doujinshi on deviantART and various other art sites.

The portrayals of him and Sebastian were spot on and he mentally applauded Alois for getting such a good likeness, he had even included a perverted gleam in Sebastian's eyes. He left a comment along the lines of what Alois had suggested before closing the browser and switching his computer screen off.

That was all he would do for now. Thanks to his conversation with Alois he was feeling slightly guilty about going any further.

He picked up his phone again and dialled the number for the editor's office at Funtom Publishing. He needed a second opinion on Sebastian's personality.

Fortunately Bardroy was the one that answered the phone so he wouldn't have to make his presence known to everyone in the office.

"Funtom Publishing, how may I help?"

"It's Ciel Phantomhive. I wanted to ask you a question."

"Hello, Ciel. How is your week off with Sebastian going? He hadn't tried anything on you, has he?" Bardroy asked worriedly.

"Can you answer my question first, do you believe that if given the chance, Sebastian could become a decent person instead of a perverted author?"

A brief silence met his question as Bardroy contemplated his answer. "I suppose he could. He already donates to a number of charities using proceeds from his books."

"Really? Which charities?" Ciel enquired.

"Most of them are for cats," his supervisor answered, causing Ciel to facepalm. "The British Heart Foundation as well."

"Charities aside, what if your personal opinion?"

"Truthfully, if he stops seducing all the interns and leaving them as a wreck, I would consider being his acquaintance instead of the person that shouts at him for all his escapades."

"Thank you for answering," Ciel said gratefully as he realised that Bardroy was right.

"What has Sebastian done-"

A burst of static cut Bardroy off and Ciel could faintly hear a squealing voice in the background.

"Let me talk to Ciel!" a familiar voice screamed.

"Grell?" he questioned as the noise became clearer and the static faded.

"Ciel? So, what have you and Sebas-chan got up to so far? Judging by the way that he was staring at you the other day, he must have at least tried something. Tell Aunty Grell all the juicy gossip."

"Shouldn't that be Uncle Grell?" Ciel muttered under his breath, but he answered anyway. "He told me to dump my fiancée and was about to kiss me before I pushed him away."

Grell gasped. "You never told me you had a fiancée!" he paused. "Honestly I expected him to jump you as soon as you were alone. He probably thought he would scare you if he moved too fast."

"You mean to say that I should be thankful that he didn't try to kiss me sooner," the intern said slowly.

The redhead sighed. "I'm going to guess that you were homeschooled and have never known any other men properly. I suppose you are fairly attractive, but you really aren't my type. I prefer men like be darling Will. Did you know he's-"

"Grell! Ciel doesn't want to hear about your love life," Ciel heard Finny yell in the background and there was more static as the phone was passed on again.

"Hi Ciel. I'm missing have someone make my tea for me so I hope you survive the rest of your week with Sebastian. He's not actually that bad once you get him off the subject of BL. Personally I think that he just needs some hobbies that don't involve cats or writing," Finny said. "I'm quite busy now as I am doing Grell's work for him, so good bye. Just don't listen to his advice, he has no idea what he is going on about. You shouldn't have to be thankful that he never forced a kiss on you sooner."

"Thanks Finny."

Ciel disconnected the call and threw himself down onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling, trying to put together everything that he had been told.

Alois had given him a succinct account of Sebastian's motives and Grell had added onto it. Bardroy and Finny had suggested that he could change.

But the puzzle was still incomplete, he needed the author's own input. However he needed to do some research first. He pulled out Sebastian's file, all his books and his own Psychology textbooks from college.

He spent several hours reading and he used his hidden stash of chocolate to placate his rumbling stomach as he had missed lunch. He eventually came to a conclusion as he finished the last book.

If the author agreed to stop being perverted he would go no further with his revenge plan, but if Sebastian refused and made any more attempts to molest him, he would release Michael Tianseba's real name and address and connect him to Alois' doujinshi.

As if on cue there was a knock on the door which caused Ciel's heartbeat to quicken.

"Who is it?" he asked, but he already knew.

"It's Sebastian. I want to apologise for my earlier actions. May I come in?"

"Yes," Ciel answered and got up to unlock the door.

It was time to finish his puzzle and work out his feelings for the author.

For Sebastian it was an attempt to bring back what had been lost between them.


	17. Confessions and Cake

**Chapter 17:**

Ciel opened the door and let Sebastian in.

The author and intern stared at each other as Ciel was blocking Sebastian's way. After assessing the expression on the author's face which was very apologetic, Ciel relented and stepped aside so Sebastian could enter.

"I would like to explain my earlier actions," Sebastian started once Ciel had sat down on his bed.

Outside the window pellets of rain began to beat down rapidly which, coupled with the dim light, set the scene.

Ciel nodded his assent, wondering if his reasons would match with Alois' explanation. If the blonde was right, he vowed to let him off paying any rent as a reward.

"Since I first met you, I have been quite fond of you-"

"Because I look good dressed as a cat," Ciel couldn't help interrupting.

"That did have something to do with it," the author admitted reluctantly. "But I still like you, even without cat ears."

Against his will, Ciel felt the heat in his face rise and he valiantly fought against the blush that was threatening to decorate his face pink.

"Continue," he ordered coldly, hoping that his face would match his tone.

Sebastian felt discouraged by the lack of response, but he persevered.

"I first perused you because you resisted me which felt different to what I usually get and I enjoy a challenge, but then I came to love your little quirks."

Ciel's ears pricked up at the change in subject. "Quirks?"

"The way that your fringe falls slightly into your eyes," he paused as Ciel reached up to touch his fringe and rearrange his hair. "Your pout when things don't go your way, that evil smirk that you have sometimes when you are planning something and best of all, the way your cheeks blush when I look at you," Sebastian said and leaned down to stroke his favourite intern's cheek, watching as it turned pink under his hand.

Ciel pushed the author's hand away from his face. "You still haven't explained yourself properly yet."

"I was getting to that," Sebastian said and stepped back to give Ciel room. "I was happy when you confided in me about your kidnapping and started to trust me. I felt that you would start succumbing to me and I really do feel guilty about using the same methods as Claude Faustus to write my books,"

"Then you found out that I was engaged..."

"I felt...betrayed and very jealous about it. Your fiancée made me feel that I wasn't good enough for you and you looked very relaxed when you were with her. You sometimes look scared like a rabbit when I am near - you might not be aware of it, but I have noticed," Sebastian bowed his head. "I'm sorry for taking my feelings out on you and I promise never to do it again unless I have your permission."

"Don't get your hopes up," Ciel muttered, but he respected that Sebastian had apologised. "I accept your apology, however I haven't forgiven you yet."

"I expected that, that fact that you listened to me is good enough."

He turned to leave, then he caught sight of Ciel's dartboard which he had never seen before. He picked up the remnants of a piece of paper that was lying on the floor below it. He picked it up and recognised a scarlet eye which was the only part that was still intact.

"Have you been using my handsome face as target practise, Ciel?" he commented as he stared at Ciel who pouted childishly at being caught.

"I was annoyed with you."

Sebastian smirked. Ciel could be so childish at times. "I have a question for you, what do you think of me?"

"You?"

"Yes, you have heard what I think about you so now it is your turn," the author said. "It's only fair."

Ciel stared up at him doubtfully at his glinting red eyes and raven black straight hair. "I suppose that you aren't too bad looking, but you are too aware of it which is your problem; you have an unconscious tendency to flick your hair or smooth it. You seem to be fairly intelligent," Ciel paused for thought. "It would be nice if you smiled properly, your normal smile is a little plastic. You have a good taste in tea and you can cook moderately well."

Sebastian raised an eyebrow. The intern was more observant than he had initially thought and the points that he had listed were more positive than he had been expecting.

"You flatter me."

That comment garnered a glare from Ciel. "However you have an unhealthy relationship with cats and I would like you better if you stopped being such a pervert. In addition, your latest book was rubbish."

"...Do you mean that you like me?" Sebastian perked up instantly.

"What?"

"You said: "I would like you better if you stopped being such a pervert". That means that you already like me..."

The author leaned over so his face was a centimetre away from his favourite blue haired intern.

Ciel averted his eyes and turned his face away. "I called up everyone that knows you, I even asked Grell and they all agreed that you really weren't that bad. I even read all of my Psychology textbooks," he said so quietly that Sebastian had to strain his ears to hear him.

He grabbed the boy's chin and turned it so he could see Ciel's face.

"Have you been trying to find a reason for liking me?" he asked softly. "You've gone to a lot of trouble to try to justify liking me."

"Be quiet," Ciel glowered, but he flushed red like a traffic light.

Sebastian threw his arms around Ciel to give him a tight hug. "You're so cute beneath your cold facade."

For a moment the intern tensed up before relaxing into Sebastian's arms. "Just remember: grope me and you're dead."

"I have no interest in doing that. For now, I'm happy just knowing that you like me."

He drew back and held Ciel at arm's length.

"Ciel, have you ever been kissed by anyone else besides me?"

The boy didn't even pause to consider his kidnapping. As far as he was concerned, that chapter of his life was over and he had accepted it.

"No, but Lizzie tried to once- Alois came in between us to stop her."

Sebastian sighed in relief. Ciel was no longer worrying about his kidnapping.

"That's a better smile," the intern observed. "It makes you seem less like a pervert."

"I will always be slightly perverted, but I promise that I will take it slowly."

"Take what slowly?"

"Our ever burgeoning relationship of course."

Before Ciel could even protest, Sebastian's lips touched his gently and they stayed like that for a minute before the pace increased and Sebastian knotted his hands into Ciel's hair. Ciel reached out and wrapped his arms around the author's neck and only then did Sebastian delicately push his tongue into Ciel's mouth which tasted of chocolate.

It took a few experiments for Ciel to get it right as he couldn't quite get used to the sensation of having someone else's' tongue in his mouth, but soon their tongues were moving in a comfortable synchronisation, teaching Ciel how blissful it felt to share a kiss with someone that he loved. Sebastian shared that sentiment as he had never liked anyone the way he loved Ciel.

Starved of oxygen, they broke apart and took deep breaths. Sebastian sat down next to Ciel and pulled the intern onto his lap. He nipped at the boy's ear playfully.

"Did you enjoy that, Ciel?" he whispered seductively into his ear and licked it. "You ears and neck are shining red like a beacon."

"Shut up!" Ciel moaned and placed his hands over his ears to hide them. "Just wait until I make your face go red. I'll be the one teasing you then."

Sebastian smiled again. "Is that an offer? If so, I will gladly take you up on it."

Ciel realised the significance of what he had said and hastened to keep the pervert quiet. He shifted position so his legs were straddling Sebastian's and leaned forward to give Sebastian a timid kiss on the lips.

Funnily enough the author forgot all about teasing Ciel and deepened the kiss again, as he marvelled at the fact that Ciel had taken the initiative. Then he became aware that the intern had unintentionally positioned himself close to Sebastian's groin and was pressing himself even closer.

He gently pushed Ciel away before it could have any effect on him. Ciel observed interestedly as Sebastian suddenly seemed to be very shy as his eyes were looking downwards instead of at Ciel.

"Your face is red like a stop sign," he noted. "I did say that I would make your face turn red."

There was no reply from the author.

"Sebastian?" He moved closer to look at the author's embarrassed face. "Did I do something wrong?"

The author's head jerked up. "No! I still feel the same way about you and yes, you did make me blush."

He pulled Ciel into his arms and gave him another tight hug.

"Sebastian, can you stay with me tonight? I will feel lonely if you leave me," Ciel requested in a quiet voice.

"I will stay," he let go of Ciel. "Give me a second, I have a treat for you. It's getting late, but since you don't look like that you are going to sleep anytime soon..."

He darted out of the room and returned with a slice of rainbow cake and a fork. He locked the door behind him and handed it to Ciel, whose face lit up.

"I shouldn't really give it to you as it contains nothing of any nutritional value and you have been eating chocolate all day."

"How did you know I've been eating chocolate?" Ciel questioned suspiciously. "I threw all the wrappers in the bin under my desk which you can't see from here."

"I tasted it," Sebastian answered and stuck his tongue out. "If my sense of taste is correct, it was... Cadbury's Dairy Milk and some Aero- that had a minty taste."

Ciel finished his slice of cake and stretched, causing his shirt to rise up and flash Sebastian a strip of his perfectly pale skin. Sebastian distracted himself by looming over Ciel and licking the crumbs off his lips.

"Thanks for the cake, the icing was perfect and the layers were all straight. It's hard to get a rainbow cake right, lots of people just end up with a mess instead," Ciel compliment as his licked the remaining icing off his fork.

Sebastian relieved him of the fork and plate and placed them somewhere out of the way.

"What do you want to do now, Ciel?"

Ciel's eyes narrowed. "You had better not be hoping for me to sleep with you."

"No, I won't even suggest it at the moment and I wouldn't do it anyway with your mother in the house."

This was a surprise for Ciel. "Mum is here?"

Then he remembered Tanaka saying a couple of days ago that his mother was coming back from Paris and that the elderly butler had been trying to tell him something when he had walked past him.

"Will you still stay with me?" he asked.

The pair slept next to each other as Ciel Phantomhive and Sebastian Michaelis instead of author and intern or master and butler. As they slept thunder pealed and lightening struck, foreshadowing the chaotic events of the following day.


	18. Rest and Revelations

**Torture and Tea**

**Chapter 18:**

At six o'clock in the morning, before the autumn sun rose, someone walked up the driveway of the Phantomhive residence, having being dropped off there by a taxi. The person used their own key to gain access and walked straight to their own study.

Several hours later the Earl of Phantomhive's son woke up to find himself in the arms of a hopefully former pervert. He smiled in contentment and lost himself to sleep once more, ignoring the singing of the birds nesting in the tree outside his window.

His sleep was interrupted once more by the sound of his phone ringing. Ciel groaned and reached out for his phone with a dead arm and strained his sleep heavy eyes to glance at the name on the screen. It was Tanaka.

"Mornin' Tanaka," he yawned sleepily.

"Young master, I suggest that you tell Sebastian to leave your room now! It's urgent."

Tanaka disconnected the call and Ciel stared at his phone in puzzlement, wondering if he had imagined the conversation.

Beneath him, Sebastian stirred. "Good morning Ciel," he smiled lethargically.

A knock at the door made them jump and Ciel instinctively knew it wasn't Tanaka.

He pushed a sleepy Sebastian off his bed. "Hide," he hissed urgently before walking over to unlock his door to reveal his mother standing outside.

"Good morning, Mum," he said and willingly gave her a hug to give Sebastian more time to hide. Although he knew that his mother was a fan of BL, he had a feeling that she wouldn't want her own son to be homosexual.

"Hello Ciel, I arrived back from Paris yesterday, but I was told that you had locked yourself in your room to sulk. And then I heard that you had found out about your kidnapping," she patted his head comfortingly. "I'm sorry that you had to find out about that paedophile."

"I'm all right now," he answered quietly.

"That's good. By the way, have you seen Sebastian this morning? I wouldn't mind another cup of the Empress Grey tea that he made me last night,"

Ciel stiffened. "No, I haven't seen him. Maybe he's taking a really long time in the toilet," he suggested innocently.

"That might be it. Vincent also arrived early this morning."

"Dad did?"

Rachel nodded. "You had better get dressed now, he wants to have a talk with you and Sebastian in the study as soon as possible."

Half an hour later Ciel was sitting in front of his father's desk with brushed hair and clean clothes. Sebastian was standing next to him in his spare butler outfit as sleeping in his other one had made it quite creased and there had been no time for ironing.

Vincent Phantomhive arranged a stack of papers that was one his desk into smaller piles. Ciel recognised one of the smaller piles as being a manuscript covered in Sebastian's handwriting and another looked uncannily like Alois' doujinshi.

"Ciel, you have done very well," the Earl congratulated as he regarded the pair in front of him.

"Excuse me, I don't understand what you are talking about, Dad," Ciel said politely. If he had been talking to Alois he would be a lot more informal. He had taken elocution classes when he was a child so he always spoke formally when in the presence of his parents or anyone with a title.

Vincent steepled his fingers. "Before reaching the age of 21, all of the first born sons of the Phantomhive family are tested to check that they are worthy of receiving the title of 'Earl of Phantomhive'."

This came as a surprise to Ciel who had never heard of this before and he wasn't sure that his test had been, but he guessed that it involved Sebastian. He glanced quickly at the author who seemed to be as puzzled as he was.

"What was my test?" he enquired.

His father gestured at the portraits of the previous Phantomhive Earls that lined the walls of the study.

"The test is always different and is decided by the current Earl," he explained. "I was challenged to rob a bank by my father and then place the proceeds into an account at the same bank without being detected. However your case was different and I was in the midst of planning a more modern test that would suit you, when a problem arose at Funtom Publishing."

"Sebastian Michaelis," Ciel answered immediately.

Everything fitted into place now. The declining quality of Sebastian's work. His father's insistence that he do an internship at Funtom Publishing instead of going to university. The fact that his father had allowed the notorious pervert to work as a butler and be close to him.

Vincent was pleased that his son had caught on. "Correct. Sebastian was becoming a liability for the company, but I believed that he would improve if given a new muse. He rose to the bait wonderfully and wanted to start a new book series, which was of course based around you. You also passed the first stage as you resisted Sebastian and refused to be seduced by him."

The author in question frowned. Had his latest book really been that bad? Surely it hadn't been bad enough to warrant the CEO using his own son as bait.

His boss guessed his thoughts. "Another year and I would have fired you. I prefer to deal with problems before they fully arise and I was almost certain that Ciel would resist you. It was also a relevant test as, when Ciel inherits the estate from me, people will try different methods to lure him into parting with his wealth."

Ciel nodded in understanding, having caught his father's meaning.

The Earl continued on. "I've had you watched ever since you started your internship," he gestured to stack of photos which Ciel picked up and went through. "I let you off for the cross dressing since you were trying to persuade Alois Trancy to do something and I know Alois' personality."

The intern flipped through the photos and saw that whoever followed him had been very meticulous as even his facial expressions had been captured.

"Was the next part planning revenge against Sebastian?"

"Yes. Tanaka photocopied all of your notes and I have always kept an eye on your bank records as well as the correspondence between you and Alois Trancy. I admire you for choosing a more personal route instead of just using some of my more criminal contacts and hiring people to beat him up."

Sebastian felt a shiver go down his spine. Had he really come that close to being beaten up by a group of thugs? He didn't even want to consider the prospect.

"Sebastian, would you like to know what Ciel's method of revenge was?" Vincent asked and held out a printout of a comic strip that was familiar to Ciel.

The author was unable to keep the look of surprise off his face when he read the doujinshi. It was a retelling of the events that had happened the first time he had met Ciel with characters that had the same names and looked exactly like him and Ciel. Everything was well drawn, but his portrayal seemed to have something wrong with his eyes and the perverted grin was a little over the top as it looked like it should belong in a horror movie.

"Who drew this?"

"Alois did," Ciel said, enjoying the look on the author's face.

"He did a good job," Vincent conceded. "You should also see the comments. After Ciel posted a negative comment, the other comments seemed to follow his as opposed to the more positive ones the preceded it. I was amused that Ciel completely underestimated how perverted females can be, but I even I am slightly puzzled as to why my wife enjoys BL."

Something dawned on Ciel. "Why has the test finished now? I haven't yet achieved my revenge and it's not like you to go easy on me."

"You were never supposed to team up with Sebastian and find out about your kidnapping. It was outside my predictions, but it worked out for the best."

"For the best?"

Vincent nodded and patted the manuscript on his desk. "Whilst you were locked in your bedroom yesterday, Sebastian wrote the first five chapters of his new book and I am very impressed with the writing and the depth of the storyline."

"So the test is finished now. My plan was close to succeeding and Sebastian is set to write another bestseller," Ciel summarised in an emotionless voice as his mind was still reeling from all the accusations.

"Yes. Now, I can get you into Oxford or Cambridge for next week. You have missed the start of the academic year, but with your brain you can catch up easily. Alternatively you could just call this year your gap year and travel."

"What about me?" Sebastian interjected, feeling like he had been manipulated like a puppet by the Earl.

Vincent glanced at him momentarily. "I'm afraid that you can't stay here, the agreement was for a week and you have collected all of your necessary research and I can't have you anywhere near my son as I'm sure that you would have tried to molest him again sooner or later."

"Excuse me?" Ciel said in surprise at his father's cold tone.

His father shot him a sharp look. "You haven't succumbed to him, have you? You are my only heir and you must marry to pass on the Phantomhive name. You can't ruin over 200 years of the Phantomhive Earldom for an author that writes BL."

He looked at his son suspiciously who was avoiding his gaze as he was torn between telling the truth or lying about his relationship with the author. Saying either would meant that he was never going to be able to stay with Sebastian.

Sebastian intervened. "Your son has been annoyingly resistant to my attempts and he has even given me Repetitive Strain Injury and a slight case of concussion."

Vincent smiled, looking momentarily like a vampire. "That is good news. I was worried for a second."

* * *

Later that day Ciel watched Sebastian leave from his bedroom window. He lost sight of him as the taxi drove down the road and the already grey sky darkened and pellets of rain obscured his vision.

He frowned thoughtfully, his mind was still reeling from everything that had happened over the past two days, but he knew one thing; he was definitely going to miss Sebastian.

After all he had only realised 12 hours ago that he actually liked him.

However that time was over now, he had to become a suitable heir to inherit the Phantomhive title.

He was going to have to forget his brief dalliance with Sebastian.

If he abandoned the Phantomhive legacy now and went off with Sebastian, the family line would end with him.

Maybe later in life when he had taken over his father's title he would meet with him and they might continue from where they left off, but for now they had to stay apart.

**The End**

* * *

**A/N: In the unlikely event that someone is rereading this fanfiction, this fanfiction was edited on 05/03/17 to have a different ending that is the same as the fanfiction.net and wattpad versions. Those two versions were edited at the end of last year, this one was unchanged simply because it isn't that popular and I forgot about it.**

**The original version had two chapters following on this. I left the fandom for a year after I finished this fanfiction, that is an indicator of how much I hate this fanfiction. I have decided to edit rather than delete.**


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